


If you're reading this it'll be too late

by Minnie0503



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Complete, F/M, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27509830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minnie0503/pseuds/Minnie0503
Summary: There was a girl on the bottom of the slide drenched in blood. She was wearing a dark green ballgown which hang in tatters off her lithe body. There were cuts all down her arms and legs, some of which were still bleeding profusely. She did not seem to have any cuts on her face but her cheeks were bruised and her forehead bloodied. Charlie could not tell whether her hair was naturally dark or whether it was all the blood that had congealed on the top of her head."Bloody hell."  His brother exclaimed beside him."Quite right, Mr Weasley." Snape said.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	If you're reading this it'll be too late

If you’re reading this it’s too late

Chapter 1

Charlie stupefied the doxy that had tried to creep up on him from behind with a lazy flick of his wand over his right shoulder. The doxy hovered behind him and Charlie plucked it out of the air unceremoniously. Bill had given up on stupefying doxies and was whacking them with an old tennis racket that had been left over from his dad’s obsession with muggle sports a few summers ago. 

“Are you sure that it’s not hurting them?” Charlie asked with a frown. 

However nasty these creatures were, Charlie did not want to see them in pain. He had always had a soft spot for magical beasts. So when his mum had asked whether he would help Bill with clearing the doxies out of a spare bedroom at the Order of the Phoenix’ headquarters-otherwise known as Black manor- he was happy to oblige. Even if he was still tired after having travelled back from Romania only the day before. 

Bill just snickered. “I don’t think it hurts them. Much. But it’s so much more fun than stupefying them.” , his older brother said whilst swatting another doxy out of the air and neatly into a basket that was already full with the small pests. 

Charlie sighed. With a whispered “Stupefy” he got the last doxy and disposed it in the basket. He closed the lit and turned to his brother. 

“Is Fleur at the burrow?” 

As he had spend so much time abroad Charlie hadn’t really met his brother’s girlfriend yet. He didn’t really count the time when he had briefly seen her at the Triwizard’s tournament almost a year ago now. Ginny had written him but he didn’t want to believe that she really was that annoying. Granted, his brother was always quick to fall for a pretty face but Bill had confided in him that he planned on proposing to her soon so there must be more to her. 

Now it was Bill’s turn to sigh. 

“No, she’s at our flat in Shoreditch. Mum would never let her stay there by herself. And Dumbledore hasn’t set her up for coming here yet. I wonder-“

Charlie never heard what his brother was wondering about when a loud scream interrupted his brother’s words. The two eldest Weasleys shared a determined look before rushing downstairs to the entrance hall of Grimmauld Place Number 12. Charlie arrived first, his wand pointed at the dark figure standing opposite his mother. Bill, not possessing the quick reactions of a wizard who’d been playing catch with dragons for the past 5 years, crashed into his back and sent Charlie to his knees. The tennis racket that Bill had still been holding instead of his wand flew past Charlies head and at the dark figure. The dark figure did not seem to have felt the wooden racket smashing against his back but lowered his hood unperturbed. Charlie let go of the breath he had been holding involuntarily. It was only Snape. What was it with that wizard and his need for dramatic entrances. His mother also looked exacerbated. Bill swore quietly behind him. 

“Severus! I would really appreciated if you could not enter a secret hideout dressed like a dementor. I was moments away from hexing you.” 

Charlie bit down a snicker. His mum was waving a wooden spoon around, her wand most likely left behind stirring a pot of stew. Bill was less successful in his attempt to hide his laughter and Molly Weasley glared at him. 

“I apologise, Molly.” 

Snape ignored the two brothers and also the wooden spoon in their mother’s hand. 

“I need you to contact Dumbledore immediately. There is someone I have to bring into the headquarters.” 

Molly opened her mouth as if to answer but Snape cut her off. 

“It’s a matter of live and death.” 

Molly’s eyes widened and she rushed off to contact the headmaster. 

Severus Snape now turned to Bill and Charlie. 

“If you are done fooling around, you can be of assistance.” 

Charlie scrambled back to his feet with the help of his brother. Without another word Snape turned around, clearly expecting the two Weasleys to follow him. Charlie held his wand tightly and followed Snape out of the main doors, his brother close behind him. The strange threesome quickly crossed the small square outside the manor and headed towards a small park. Charlie was pleased to see that Bill was now also brandishing his wand. They followed Snape further into the park towards an abandoned playground. Despite it being early morning the sun did not quite manage to break through the assortment of trees covering the playground. Charlie and Bill lit their wands with a muttered “Lumos” almost in sync. Snape turned around and glared at them.   
“Extinguish those, we do not want to be seen!” 

Charlie felt as if he were back at Hogwarts, but followed Snape’s orders without hesitation. Bill had done the same. They had arrived at a slide and Charlie was immediately hit by the smell of blood. He could not see anything or anyone but dragons loved chumping on careless wizards and Charlie had developed a keen sense of smell when it came to blood. Just as he was about to ask, Snape waved his wand over the bottom of the slide. He could feel Bill taking a step back next to him. Charlie had seen a number of nasty injuries over the past years but even so he wanted to imitate his brother. There was a girl on the bottom of the slide drenched in blood. She was wearing a dark green ballgown which hang in tatters off her lithe body. There were cuts all down her arms and legs, some of which were still bleeding profusely. She did not seem to have any cuts on her face but her cheeks were bruised and her forehead bloodied. Charlie could not tell whether her hair was naturally dark or whether it was all the blood that had congealed on the top of her head. 

“Bloody hell.” His brother exclaimed beside him. 

“Quite right, Mr Weasley.” Snape said. 

Charlie thought he could hear the faintest tremor in his former teacher’s voice. 

“We need to get her across the square and into the headquarters without anyone seeing us. I imagine Dumbledore will be there any moment now.” 

Charlie had a million questions but now was not the time to ask them. Not that he would ever expect Snape to answer any of them anyway. 

“I cannot keep the vanishing spell on her and move her at the same time. One of you will have to carry her whilst I vanish the both of you. The other one will keep an eye out.” Snape said in a commanding tone, any emotion gone from his voice. 

“Keep an eye out for what?” Bill asked, his voice stricken with worry. 

Snape chose to ignore his question. Charlie exchanged a quick look with his brother.

“Your hexes are better. I will carry her.” Charlie said and as careful as he could he lifted the girl from the bottom of the slide. 

She was not as light as you would expect looking at her, but Charlie was strong from his work. When he had her somewhat safely draped in his arms he could feel her trembling ever so slightly. This brought on a sigh of relief as Charlie had almost expected to be carrying a corpse by the look of her. He felt something like a cool draught when Snape cast the vanishing spell on him. The professor put his hood up again and walked back towards the manor. Charlie could see Bill walking slightly to the left behind him, his wand stretched out in front of him. Despite Snape’s anxious words they made it back to the square and across it unscathed. But when they got to the manor Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen and it was just Mrs Weasley standing outside anxiously. When she couldn’t see Charlie, Molly was quick to reach for her wand but Bill calmed her with a quick word. Charlie stopped just behind Snape. His arms were getting tired but he was more worried about the girl in them. 

“Where is Dumbledore?” Snape said harshly, his eyes darting between Mrs Weasley and their surroundings. 

“He can’t leave Hogwarts but he sent Fawkes with the address. But whoever you need to bring inside needs to read it. Where-“ Molly stopped abruptly when Snape released the vanishing spell. 

She gasped and hurried towards Charlie. “Oh dear Merlin. Is that Holly?” 

She looked questioningly at Snape who just nodded his head yes. Charlie frowned. The name seemed to ring a memory inside him. He looked down at the girl again and under all the blood and bruises she did look familiar. Molly looked like she was going to touch the girl but didn’t dare in the end. 

“Severus, she is in no state to read the address. We must take her to St Mungo’s.” 

Snape shook his head. “We cannot take her there. Nobody can know. I wanted to take her to my place but it is being watched. I cannot take her to Hogwarts.” 

Charlie thought he could hear a slight tone of worry in the potion master’s voice again. 

“Then we will take her to the burrow.” Molly said resolutely and for a moment Charlie thought that Snape looked grateful. 

“Very well.”

He went to take the girl-Holly- from Charlie but the latter stepped back. 

“Look, Professor Snape, I know I am not the best at apparating but I can feel her blood soaking into my clothes. If we move her too much she is going to start bleeding even more.” 

Snape seemed to consider this for a moment but nodded eventually. His mum looked at him encouragingly. Charlie was certain that she was thinking of him failing his first test. 

Snape had turned to speak to Bill in the meantime. “You stay here and send another message to Dumbledore. Also try to reach Lupin. He is quite adept at healing spells.” 

Bill rushed back into the manor. Charlie held the girl even more tightly and took a deep breath. 

“See you at the burrow.” he said and disapparated. 

~|~

Charlie apparated in one piece outside the main door of his family’s home. The girl was still in his hands, but bleeding more profusely now. With a faint pop his mother and Snape appeared beside him. They entered the house quickly and Charlie carefully put the girl down on the couch in the living room. Molly was right beside him and carefully started to unbutton the girl’s gown. After a strict look from his mother Charlie thought it best to leave and joined Snape in the kitchen. A moment later there was another faint pop outside and Remus Lupin rushed inside. He looked deathly white and out of breath. 

“Where is she?” He bellowed and Charlie just pointed towards the living room. 

Remus disappeared through the door. Charlie awkwardly stood next to Snape not quite knowing what to say. 

“What happened?” He dared to ask eventually. 

Snape considered him for a moment. 

“A foolish girl thought she could best one of the cruellest followers of the dark lord. And now she has very likely done unsalvageable damage to her task.” 

The potions teacher said eventually. Charlie frowned. 

“So is she a member of the Order?” 

Snape huffed. 

“Obviously not, Mr Weasley, or I would have been able to take her into the headquarter.” 

Charlie could feel the tips of his ears burn. It was just like back in his school days. 

“Who attacked her? And what is her task?”

“That is between her and Dumbledore. And definitely not for you to know.” 

Charlie tried a different route. 

“She looks very familiar. My mum called her Holly?” 

Snape regarded him again, clearly trying to work out how much he could say without giving away any secrets. 

“Holly Burr. She was in your year at Hogwarts.” 

Charlie raised his eyebrows. He did know her. Holly Burr had been in Slytherin and they had been in quite a few classes together. He probably would have recognised her straight away if she hadn’t been covered in blood. Just when he was about to ask another question Remus and his mum reappeared from the living room. Charlie could feel Snape tense beside him. 

“She’s going to be okay. It’s actually not as bad as it looks, head wounds always bleed furiously and the cuts are fairly shallow.” Remus said, now not looking quite as pale. 

Molly dared a small smile. 

“She’s asleep now.” Molly looked up. “Luckily Ron and Ginny are out with Tonks and the twins are with your father.” She smiled at Charlie. “You should get changed. The twins’ clothes should fit you.” 

Charlie nodded but did not move. There was no way he was going to let them discuss this further without him. He was part of the order after all. Remus silently seemed to agree with him. 

“Severus, how could this happen?” 

Snape threw another quick look at Charlie but did not tell him to leave. 

“Miss Burr was at the summer tide party at Malfoy manor. As was I. Her task was to gather information about-“ another quick look at Charlie, “about the prophecy. I was there too obviously, but she made it very difficult to keep an eye on her. She walked off with McNeagan and by the time I caught up to her she was barely on her feet.” 

Charlie heard his mother gasp at the mentioning of McNeagan and even Remus paled again.

“I obliviated McNeagan and then I had to leave her until I could make excuses at the party. By the time I got back to her she was unconscious.” 

A slight tremor had crawled back into Snape’s voice. Charlie had the slight suspicion that Snape was feeling guilty. 

“I apparated to the safe house in Hounslow and tried to patch her up. I am not sure what hex McNeagan used but just over an hour ago she started bleeding profusely. So I came to the headquarters.” 

Remus seemed deep in thought and his mum had started to tear up. 

“It was some sort of delayed hex. Good job you did not leave her unattended. Do you think anyone noticed at the party?” 

Snape took a moment to think. 

“McNeagan was pretty drunk so that on top of me obliviating him may have been enough. And quite a lot of the young crowd was leaving around the same time as it happened so Miss Burr’s disappearance may have gone unnoticed or at least without suspicion.” 

Now that he had said it out loud Snape seemed calmer. 

“I trust Miss Burr will be alright in your care? I have to see what I can find out about the aftermath.” 

Molly nodded rigorously. Without any words of thanks or farewell Snap left the kitchen and disapparated from the burrow. Remus turned towards Charlie. 

“Charlie, this must stay absolutely confidential. Miss Burr is a very valuable asset (at this Mrs Weasley huffed) and we mustn’t lose her. Her position within the old families allows her to gather all sorts of information. Information we desperately need.” 

Charlie helped himself to a glass of water before answering Remus. He was still sticky with the girls’ blood. 

“I am not going to say anything. But I suppose she’ll have to stay here for a while?” 

He looked at his mother questioningly.   
“She will definitely need a couple of days to recover. But not here. As soon as she is awake we need to move her to the headquarters. It’ll be safer.” 

Remus nodded at his mothers words. 

“Charlie, your mother and I better return. We need to update Dumbledore and the other members of the order. Can you stay with Holly and bring her with you once she is awake?” 

Charlie nodded. 

“Thank you. Molly, do you have the address?” 

His mother gave him the small sheet with Dumbledore’s neat writing on it. 

“Don’t forget to destroy it after.” 

Remus and Molly smiled at him one last time before disapparating. 

~|~

Charlie felt a million times better after he had gotten out of his bloodied clothes, had a shower and was now wearing a pair of George’s jeans and one of his old sweaters that he had found in Fred’s closet. He was sitting in the living room trying to read Newt Scamander’s “Dragons in the wild” article that he had found in Ron’s room but kept catching himself looking at Holly instead. Charlie did not remember ever talking to her whilst at Hogwarts. He did remember the snobby remarks her friends had made at him and his friends but although she must have joined in he could not think of what her voice may sound like. Now that the blood and bruising was gone and colour had returned to her face, Charlie couldn’t believe he had not recognised her straight away. Her dark hair was fanned out on the pillow and Charlie knew that when she’d eventually open her eyes they’d be a light shade of blue. He thought that she actually looked quite pretty whilst sleeping but at Hogwarts there had always been a haughty expression on her face which took away from her appeal. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her smile. Charlie tried to focus once more on the article in his hands. He kept rereading the same line and was just about to give up when he heard Holly stir on the couch. Charlie put the article down and watched Holly’s eyes flutter open. She did not move but Charlie could see her eyes flittering about taking in her surroundings. When they came to look upon him her pupils widened for a moment. Holly opened her mouth but when she tried to speak only a rasp came out. Charlie knelt down beside her and gave her a bit of water. Holly tried to lift her head but couldn’t so he gently put his hand under her head and helped her so she could drink. After a few sips she sank back and closed her eyes again. 

“You’re safe, Holly.”   
Charlie said, not wanting her to panic although he didn’t think she was actually worried after realising where she was. Or rather who she was with. Holly had obviously recognised him straight away and knew that he was of no danger to her. She lifted her head again and once again Charlie helped her with taking some sips of water.   
“McNeagan?” Holly whispered, her voice still sounding weak and raspy. 

Charlie repeated what Snape had told them in the kitchen. 

“He knows.” Holly whispered. “He knows what the dark lord is after. And that Dumbledore is trying to stop him getting it.” 

Holly still had her eyes closed, her voice getting raspier with the strain of talking. 

“Holly, I will have to take you somewhere else. It’s not safe here.” 

Charlie made a mental note to send a message to Dumbledore as soon as he was able to. Holly nodded weakly. Charlie thought it wise to get her to the manor straight away and reached under the blanket to pick her up again. And froze when he could feel soft skin only where he had expected clothes. His skin went red hot and he pulled his hands back as if burnt. 

“I think I need some clothes first.” Holly said, still weakly, but with definite amusement. 

Chapter 2

Holly could feel Charlie Weasley’s arms tremble slightly when he helped her up. His eyes were closed tightly and he tried his best to help her into a fluffy yellow dressing gown without touching her. As his hand brushed her chest briefly he pulled it back as if burnt and turned an even deeper shade of red. Holly almost laughed but it took all of her energy not to faint again. Her whole body was in pain and she had a splitting headache. The dressing gown, as soft as it was, rubbed against the bandages Mrs Weasley had put on her cuts and every time she moved it was agony. 

“Is it on?” Charlie asked, his voice quiet and gentle.

Holly nodded her head before realising that Charlie’s eyes were still shut tightly. 

“Yes.” She said. 

Her throat felt raw. Charlie opened his eyes and regarded her questioningly. Holly remembered him looking like that at some of the creatures Professor Kettleburn used to show them in their care of magical creatures lessons. It was a look filled with curiosity but also respect for the unpredictability of an unknown beast in your vicinity. A wounded beast in her case.   
“Right. So mum said to take you to the headquarters as soon as you are awake. I’ll have to apparate with you again, I don’t think you’ll be up to do it by yourself. Plus you don’t even know where to go so…” 

He smiled and ruffled his hair. Holly did not return his smile. She hated having to depend on others. Charlie cleared his throat and took a couple of steps closer to her. Holly sighed and held on to the arm he offered to her. She used her other hand to hold the dressing gown closed. Before she could ask where they’d be going she felt the air press against her and like she was being squeezed through a tight tube. A moment later she was out in the sunshine. Holly felt fainter than ever and even with holding on to Charlie’s arm she sank to the ground. Clearly not expecting her to go down Charlie went down with her. He looked at her with a very worried expression. 

“I don’t think I can walk. I might faint.” Holly managed to get out, her mouth dry and raw. 

“That’s okay, I can carry you. But you must read this first.” 

He shoved a small piece of parchment towards her. Holly looked at it but the letters were swimming around before her eyes. She shut them and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again the letters had stopped moving. 

“Grimmauld Place Number 12.” She read, her voice now barley more than a whisper. 

Holly looked up when she heard the two houses in front of her move to the side and a dilapidated town house squeeze itself into existence between them. Charlie set the piece of paper aflame with a quickly muttered “incendio”. He cleared his throat again. 

“Right. I am going to lift you up now.” 

Holly just nodded, feeling thoroughly exhausted now. She felt Charlie’s hand on her back and on the back of her thighs. He carefully lifted her and walked towards the entrance door of the grimy mansion. The door opened without Charlie having to push down the handle or even knock. Holly could feel his arms tremble slightly when he crossed the threshold with her. The entrance hall was dark and dusty. There were a number of paintings on the walls, most of them empty. Behind an umbrella holder that was shaped like the foot of a troll was a dark curtain that moved ever so slightly. 

“Finally!”

Holly saw two people walk towards them. One she recognised straight away as Remus Lupin. Judging by the red hair and the relief in her face, the other must be Molly Weasley, Charlie’s mother. Holly thought she had probably seen her before at the platform when she had dropped Charlie off for school. She returned her gaze to Lupin and could not quite fathom why the older wizard looked amused. Holly looked up at Charlie who was, again, a deep shade of red. Holly was too exhausted to think much of it. Mrs Weasley had reached them and put a gentle hand on Holly’s forehead. 

“You are burning up, petal. We better get you into bed.” 

She motioned Charlie to follow her up the stairs. Lupin followed them. They entered a small bedroom with a single bed in the corner and no window. 

“Put her down here, Charlie.” 

Again Holly was surprised by his gentleness when Charlie laid her down on the small bed. Mrs Weasley knelt down so her face was right by Holly’s. 

“Severus has left some strengthening potions for you, Holly.” She turned to Charlie. “They are in the kitchen. Bring some water as well.” 

Charlie nodded and obediently left the room. Holly felt something cool on her forehead. Mrs Weasley had conjured a small bowl with water that smelled of chamomile. 

“This will help lower your temperature.”

Holly felt her headache subsiding slightly. 

“How do you know who I am?” 

Talking still hurt but her curiosity won out. Mrs Weasley smiled at her. 

“Oh, of course. I remember you from being in Charlie’s year. Charlie once told me about…” 

She did not finish the sentence as her son had just entered the room again. 

“What did I tell you?” Charlie asked worryingly. 

Mrs Weasley stood up to relief him of a small bottle with a light green liquid inside and the small glass of water he was carrying. 

“Oh just this one time. You came home for Christmas really upset because Professor Kettleburn had been bringing a unicorn to his lesson. And the unicorn wouldn’t let anyone touch it except for this ‘stuck up cow Holly Burr’.”   
Mrs Weasley chuckled but Charlie seemed mortified. Holly lifted her head slightly to say something but only a gasp came out when she felt being cut all over again. Lupin, who had been so quiet that Holly had forgotten about him, came up to her bed and waved his wand over her. The pain subsided somewhat. Mrs Weasley had rushed back down to her and was now gently lifting her head to give her some of the strengthening potion. 

“Charlie, you best leave again. We will need to change her dressings again. Bill is downstairs talking to Sirius.” 

With a last worried look at Holly he left again. The potion felt warm in her mouth and when she swallowed the warmth spread throughout her whole body. Lupin turned around when Mrs Weasley opened her dressing gown to change her bandages. Holly did not dare look down, she did not want to know how cut up she was. Just as Mrs Weasley was done and had covered Holly up again, Snape entered the bedroom which started to feel crowded again. He and Mrs Weasley exchanged a quick look and Mrs Weasley muttered something about getting her some clothes and left the room. Lupin did not greet Snape but sat down on a small stool opposite the bed. Snape walked up to her bed and looked down at her with an unreadable expression. Holly knew what was going to come. 

“What were you thinking?” 

Her former head of house hissed at her. Holly cleared her throat and sat up as best as she could in the small bed. She felt lightheaded for a moment but the strengthening potion had done wonders. Her body was still in pain but it now was more of a pulsating sort of pain that she was able to work through. She lifted the glass of water with a shaking hand to take a sip before answering.

“He was boasting to everyone who would listen that the dark lord had confided his latest plans in him. It was too good of an opportunity to miss.” Holly said, her voice still raspy but her throat not hurting nearly half as much as before.

“You almost got yourself found out. And killed. You were lucky I found you just in time.” Snape said, his voice throbbing with anger.

“Only because the dark lord must have started giving his followers lessons in occlumency. McNeagan felt almost instantly that I was trying to poke around in his head.” 

Holly tried to defend herself sheepishly. She knew it had been a bad idea from the moment she had been alone with the older wizard. 

“I have told you before that you are a poor legilimens. How did you even get him alone?” 

A slight note of worry had crept into Snape’s voice. Holly felt herself turn bright red just like Charlie had done so many times today. 

“I promised him something.” She said almost inaudibly. 

Lupin groaned and Snape turned around quickly, clearly having forgotten that the other wizard was in the room with them. 

“Holly, you should not feel like this is expected of you. It definitely is not what Dumbledore had in mind when he asked you to gather information.” Lupin said, his voice clearly concerned. Snape didn’t say anything. 

“I know. But before McNeagan hexed me I read in his mind that the dark lord knows about the location of the prophecy. And that Dumbledore is trying to stop him from getting it.” 

Both Snape and Lupin inhaled sharply at this. Holly could not help but feel at least a little bit smug about their reaction. So she had put herself and her task into danger but it had not been for nothing. Snape’s gaze returned to her. 

“Very well. Nevertheless you have to be more careful. Especially now that you are staying at the headquarters and will meet more of the order. Who knows how many of his followers the dark lord has been teaching legilimency.” 

Holly sat up even more straightly.

“What do you mean staying at the headquarters?” 

“I mean exactly that. McNeagan has hit you with some sort of exsanguine spell. You will feel the effects of it for at least another two weeks. So you have to stay here until it’s worn off.” 

Holly could not help feeling that Snape felt satisfied with her being stuck here. 

“But I can’t stay here. People will realise that I have disappeared. Questions about McNeagan will start cropping up and I’ll have to be there to answer them.” 

“There won’t be any questions. I have been asking around this morning and McNeagan beliefs that he simply passed out in the gardens. He has no recollection of ever going anywhere with you. And nobody saw you leaving with him. I have told Mr Flint that you had been experimenting with hair dye potions and it’d gone wrong. Your cousin had been more than happy to tell people you’d gone off to visit your grandparents in Italy. He beliefs you to be hiding somewhere until your hairy problem has been solved.” 

Holly tried to interject but Snape cut her off. 

“I am a far more accomplished legilimens than any of the dark lord’s followers. Nobody suspects you of anything. I must now leave to talk to Dumbledore. Lupin will look after you.” 

Without a word of goodbye Snape turned around on his heel and left. 

“You should sleep now, Holly. Have some more of the potion and a sip of water.” 

All the talking had left her exhausted and without complaining she swallowed the rest of the potion as well as the water. She sank back onto the pillow and fell asleep instantly. 

~\~

Holly woke up to an even darker room and her stomach grumbling. She had not eaten since last night and her healing body needed energy. She sat up slowly surprising herself by not feeling as faint as before and much stronger in general. Say what you will about Snape but his potions were top notch. Holly threw the blanket away and got to her feet. She was still in the yellow dressing gown but Mrs Weasley had laid out a pair of jogging bottoms and a big jumper for her. The jogging bottoms were far too large for her, she had to roll them up twice and tighten the waist band quite a bit before they stopped slipping down her waist. The jumper was maroon and had a big C knitted into the centre. Quite obviously Mrs Weasley had given her some of Charlie’s clothes. Holly pulled the jumper over her head and was pleasantly surprised with how soft it was. She found some socks on the floor by the stool and put them on as well. On the small desk Holly saw her wand which Snape would have retrieved from Malfoy manor. Holly grabbed it and spelled her hair into a high ponytail. Even though the exhaustion of putting on her clothes and doing her hair had made her go dizzy for a moment and she doubted her wand would be of much use to her, she put it in her pocket. Slowly she made her way to the door and exited it. The corridor outside her room was dark but she could hear voices downstairs. There was also the enticing smell of something to eat. Holly calmed her grumbling stomach with her hand and walked towards the smell. She arrived at a door that quite clearly led to the kitchen. The voices were even louder and Holly could hear laughter. She hesitated for a moment but her hunger won out and she slowly pushed the door open. The kitchen fell silent when she entered the room. Lupin was sitting at the end of table closest to her with a dark haired handsome wizard next to him. He was smiling at her but the other wizard just frowned. Charlie was sitting at the far end of the table, a slightly older red haired wizard sitting across from him. Holly reckoned that it must be his older brother, Bill. Playing cards were scattered between them. Between them sat a young red haired boy, a pretty red haired girl and a bushy brown haired girl. All three of them looked at her with open mouths. Before Holly could say anything Mrs Weasley rushed up to her. 

“Holly, my dear! How are you feeling? You must be starving.” 

She put her hands on Holly’s shoulders and steered her towards where Charlie and Bill were sitting. Holly could feel everyone’s eyes following her. Mrs Weasley seemed nonplussed by the silence in the room and gently pushed Holly down on the chair next to Charlie. Charlie did not look at her and nervously shuffled the deck of playing cards. Bill raised an eyebrow but did not say anything. Mrs Weasley had in the meantime returned with a big bowl of soup and put it down in front of Holly. 

“Eat up.” She said and Holly thought she sounded anxious. Nobody was talking still. 

“Mum?” The petite red haired witch tried to catch Mrs Weasley’s attention. 

“Yes Ginny, my dear?” Mrs Weasley said, still looking at Holly, waiting for her to start eating. Holly obliged happily and picked up her spoon. 

“Why is there a girl wearing Charlie’s jumper?” 

The red haired witch asked. Holly busied herself eating. Charlie turned red again. Bill looked like he was trying not to laugh out loud. Mrs Weasley exchanged a quick look with Lupin. 

“Oh. Of course. Erm. Well. This is Holly.” Mrs Weasley cleared her throat. “Charlies’s girlfriend.” 

Holly’s head shot up and Charlie dropped the deck of playing cards. Mrs Weasley looked at her imploringly. Bill dived down under the table feigning to retrieve the cards whilst snickering. Holly looked down the table at Lupin who nodded ever so slightly. Obviously her identity was not something the adults wanted to be revealed. Now it was Holly’s turn to clear her throat. She put her spoon down and turned towards the three teenagers. The red haired witch, Ginny, was frowning at her. The other two just seemed confused. 

“Hello.” Holly said, pleased to hear that her voice, whilst still quiet, was not hoarse anymore. 

Mrs Weasley beamed. “Yes. Charlie’s girlfriend. They arrived yesterday. What a nice surprise, isn’t it.” 

Ginny did not look like she thought it was a nice surprise. Holly dared a quick look back at Charlie but he was staring at his mum. She thought he looked mortified. Great.

“Yes. I think introductions are in order. So, Holly, you have met Bill already.” 

Mrs Weasley pointed at her eldest who had reappeared from under the table. Holly thought he looked way too pleased about the whole situation. 

“And this inquisitive young lady is my youngest, Ginny. Then this is Ron, my second youngest and his friend from school, Hermione Granger.” 

The boy and the brown haired witch both managed a smile and waved at her. 

“Remus you have already met this morning as well and this is erm well this is Sirius Black.” 

The handsome wizard looked at her intensely. It was obvious to Holly that he had been filled in about everything that had happened by Lupin. It was also obvious to her that this must be his house. Holly of course knew who Sirius Black was. Every pureblooded family knew of each other. And the wizarding community thinking that Sirius Black was the dark lord’s most loyal follower had long been a source of amusement for the circles she moved in. Holly gave a general wave to everyone she’d been introduced to and returned to eating her soup. She was still starving and did not want it going cold. Mrs Weasley had started handing out mugs and Ginny stood up to help her. Charlie’s youngest sister gave Holly hers last and sat down across from her. A teapot levitated around the table and filled up her mug with steaming tea. Holly busied herself with eating her soup to avoid having to look at Ginny who was now staring at her. 

“So, how did you meet?” She asked eventually. 

“Don’t be nosey Ginny.” Mrs Weasley called to her from where she was stirring something by the herd. 

Holly put her spoon down, her soup finished. “Oh it’s okay, Mrs Weasley.” Holly said, now looking at Ginny. “I work for an apothecary and last spring they sent me to Romania to collect some dragon related merchandise. Well and Charlie was to be my contact there. He recruited me for the order as well.” 

Holly hoped that Charlie had indeed still been in Romania last spring as this was the latest bit of information she had on the whereabouts of the second oldest Weasley. Ginny’s expression softened and Holly felt relief untie the knot in her stomach. Ginny turned her attention to her older brother. 

“You surprise me, Charlie. I always thought you weren’t interested in anything that didn’t spew fire. And she seems nice.” Ginny said the last bit with a pointed look at Bill which Holly couldn’t interpret.   
She took a sip of her tea whilst considering that Ginny had called her nice after just exchanging a few words with her. Charlie still hadn’t said anything and was still blushing. Before Holly could say anything to him, Mrs Weasley appeared again. 

“Well, with you, Ron and Hermione here now, we’ll have to shuffle everyone around. Let’s see. Ron, you’ll get the small bedroom on the first floor. We can squeeze another bed in there when Harry arrives next week. The twins are still at Lee Jordan’s until tomorrow so Hermione, you and Ginny will sleep in the blue room on the second floor.” 

Ginny turned around to face her mother. “Mum, it’s tiny! How will Holly fit in there with us?”

Holly put down her mug. For a brief moment she had forgotten that she was meant to stay here for another two weeks. And she wouldn’t be able to share a room with the other two girls if she was going to start bleeding at random from the exsanguine spell. 

Mrs Weasley seemed to think along the same lines as her when she said “Oh don’t be silly, Ginny. Holly will be staying with Charlie.” 

Chapter 3

Charlie almost dropped his mug of tea at his mother’s words. Bill hid his laughter by pretending he had a coughing fit. Ginny looked just as shocked as Charlie felt. He knew that his mum had made all about this Holly being his girlfriend up to protect her. Holly was operating as a spy for the order and if too many people knew who she really was someone may say the wrong thing to the wrong person and Holly would really be screwed. And obviously Holly wouldn’t be able to stay with Ginny and Hermione whilst she was still suffering from that whatever it was spell. Snape had filled in Mrs Weasley and Sirius after talking to Holly for ages in her room this morning and Charlie had overheard them talking. But by allowing Holly to stay in a room with him whilst Bill’s girlfriend wasn’t, his mum had made it look like she already saw her as part of their family. Before Charlie was able to really think more about the implications of this his mother flicked her wand once more and the mugs floated lazily towards the sink. 

“Right, I think this day has been long enough. Ron, Hermione and Ginny, off to bed you go.” 

The three teenagers stood up reluctantly and left the kitchen whispering to each other. As soon as they left Mrs Weasley pointed her wand towards the door and Charlie saw it vibrating slightly with the effects of the silencing charm his mother had cast. Charlie dared a glance at Holly but the young witch was staring into nothing, obviously lost in her thoughts. His mother sat down next to Bill across from them. Remus and Sirius were talking quietly at the other end of the table, sharing a bottle of firewhiskey that had appeared in front of them. Charlie wouldn’t have been opposed to having a glass himself. 

“Bill, stop snickering!” She scolded her eldest. His mother looked at Charlie and Holly. 

“I’m sorry my dears to have sprung this on you. But with Holly being ill, she wouldn’t have been able to stay in the girls’ room.” 

She smiled at Holly apologetically. Holly just looked at her, her expression unreadable. Charlie was not surprised that Holly was able to work as spy for Dumbledore. The girl’s face was like a mask. 

“And Charlie, you will have to keep an eye on her. The last thing we want is for Holly to bleed out. Remus knows a spell that will wake you if her cuts open again.” 

Charlie nodded resolutely. Apart from trying to recruit wizards abroad he hadn’t yet been of much help to the order. Keeping one of Dumbledore’s spies alive was at least contributing somehow. Charlie hadn’t noticed Sirius walking up towards their end of the table until the wizard pulled out a chair next to his mum and sat down. He looked at Holly intensely. Charlie felt himself tense up but Holly seemed nonplussed. 

“So you are Alexander Burr’s daughter?” Sirius asked with a slight note of disgust carrying in his voice. 

Holly seemed not to notice or at least wasn’t giving away that she had. “I am. I think he was in his final year when you started?” 

Charlie was unpleasantly reminded of Snape’s emotionless voice when she spoke. Must be a Slytherin thing. 

“Yes. My cousins, well Bellatrix and Narcissa anyway, kept raving about him. He was captain of the Slytherin quidditch team, wasn’t he?” 

Holly nodded. “He played for England with Ludo Bagman. But only for a year. My mother found it too dangerous so he stopped and starting working for my grandfather’s business.” 

Charlie was looking back and forth between Holly and Sirius. They were having a completely normal conversation but there seemed to be a lot of underlying communication going on that Charlie was not able to work out. Before the two purebloods were able to continue with their talk Remus joined them. 

“Charlie, why don’t I show you the alerting spell for Holly?” 

He mentioned for Charlie to follow them and begrudgingly he got up to follow the older wizard. He did not really care for having to leave Holly with Sirius but his mother and brother were there too. And it was not like Holly was completely defenceless. And surely Sirius would not blame her for the family she was born into. Charlie closed the kitchen door after him and quickly walked up the stairs. The door to the small bedroom Holly had been sleeping in stood open but any trace of her ever having been there was gone. Ron was sitting on the floor with Ginny and Hermione and they seemed to be deep in conversation. Charlie walked up to the second floor and to one of the main bedrooms that his mother had set up for him yesterday. Remus was already in there looking out of the large window. He turned around when Charlie entered the room and looked at the large bed with a raised eyebrow. 

“Do you want me to conjure a spare bed or?” Remus asked, sounding way to cheerful for Charlie’s liking. 

“I can sleep there.” He pointed at the sofa on the other side of the room. He sighed and sat down on the bed. 

“I can’t believe mum did that. Surely Ron, Ginny and Hermione are responsible enough not to go blurting out that Holly is on the order’s side.” 

Remus crossed his arms. “I am sure they are. But they are not trained to shield their minds. And like I said before, Holly is able to move amongst Voldemort’s followers without arousing suspicion. As a young witch she is often underestimated and overlooked so many speak more freely in front of her. A lot of the information she has provided us with has been invaluable. We can’t risk losing her.” 

Charlie, who admired Remus immensely, did not like how the wizard spoke about Holly. 

“Even if she is risking her life? Aren’t we meant to protect others?” 

Remus regarded him for a moment. “Charlie, she knows about the risks she is taking. Holly is not walking into these situations blindly. Yes, she at times acts reckless but she is still young.”

“But why is she doing this? Surely her family has nothing to worry about with you know who around? Are they death eaters?” 

Before Remus could answer him, Holly and his mum entered the room. Holly looked ruffled and his mum did not look too happy either. 

“Remus, have you shown Charlie the spell?” 

Remus jumped up from the bed and shook his head. 

“Well, I don’t want to rush you, but I’d appreciate if you could show him now. And then talk to your dear friend Sirius. I do not like the way he has been interrogating poor Holly here.” 

Remus frowned and quickly explained to Charlie how to perform an alerting spell before rushing out of the room to speak to Sirius. Holly had wandered towards the window and was staring out of it. Charlie did not quite know what to say. He looked at his mum who was regarding Holly worriedly. 

“How are you feeling, Holly? I’m sorry about Sirius’ behaviour, he’s been through a lot.” Mrs Weasley said feebly. 

“It’s okay Mrs Weasley. I wouldn’t trust myself either.” She turned around and smiled at his mum meekly. The smile did not reach her eyes. 

“Right. Erm. Charlie, do you have some pyjamas Holly can borrow? I can’t really go and ask Ginny.” Mrs Weasley started rummaging through Charlie’s clothes in the wardrobe. 

Before Charlie could answer his mother, Holly spoke. “That’s okay, Mrs Weasley. Wanda.” 

Charlie and his mother shared a concerned look and both jumped a little when a small house elf appeared in the room. The tiny elf was wearing a light green pillow case that was much cleaner than the usual attire of house elves. 

“First of all, I forbid you to tell anyone of this place, nor write or communicate its location to anyone in any shape or form.” Holly’s voice had taken on a commanding tone that dripped with entitlement and snobbery. Charlie hated it. The house elf, Wanda, nodded rigorously. “Good. Now go and fetch me the small black bag at the back of my wardrobe.” 

Instantly Wanda disappeared. A few moments later Wanda appeared again clutching a leather bag. Holly took it from the elf and dismissed her. She looked at Charlie and his mum. 

“I’ve got everything I need in here. And please don’t worry. Wanda is mine, she will not be able to tell anyone of this place.” 

Mrs Weasley nodded. “Of course my dear. Right. I better finish tidying the kitchen.” 

She took one last worried look at Holly and Charlie. And then her gaze fell on the large bed in the room. Mrs Weasley opened her mouth but before she could say anything that would probably embarrass him, Charlie said “There’s a sofa.”   
Mrs Weasley nodded and Holly gave him another one of her unreadable looks. His mother wished them goodnight and left. Charlie awkwardly stood up and started moving his belongings towards the sofa. 

“Don’t be stupid. You are not going to sleep on the sofa.” Holly said and stood in his way.

Charlie felt his cheeks blushing again. For the hundredth time today he wished he’d know a spell to stop that from happening. 

“You are much taller than me. I can sleep on the sofa.” Holly said, a hint of amusement in her voice. She had obviously noticed that he had thought she’d suggest them sharing the bed. 

Holly smirked at him and went to sit on the sofa. She started pulling all sorts of things out of her small bag and deposited them around her. Charlie watched her with interest. When Holly looked up and saw him looking at her, he blushed again. 

“Is there a bathroom where I can get changed?” 

Charlie cleared his throat and pointed to a door behind him. “There’s an ensuite in there. We’ve only cleared it last night, so be on the lookout for doxies.” 

Holly tilted her head, obviously not sure whether to believe him but eventually she stood up, grabbed her bag and left through the door he had indicated. A few moments later Charlie could hear the shower being turned on. He used the time alone to change into his pyjamas. Not sure what Holly would think of a 23-year old sporting pyjama bottoms with dragons printed on them but at least he was wearing a plain white t-shirt. Maybe Holly wouldn’t notice. He went to sit down on the bed and opened his book on dragons of the Americas when Holly reappeared. She was wearing light blue silky looking shorts and a matching top, that Charlie found very interesting to look at. It took him a while to notice that she had removed the bandages. Light pink cuts covered Holly’s arms, upper chest and legs. 

“Do you think I should bandage them again?” Holly said and Charlie stopped staring. 

He hadn’t meant for her to think it bothered him to see them. He had plenty of cuts and scars of his own. 

“Well, I don’t think you should. It’s always good to let them get some air.” 

It was suddenly very important for him that she knew he was not bothered by her cuts. 

“You’re probably right. It’s also more pleasant to not have the gauze rubbing against them.”  
Holly walked to the sofa and with a flick of her wand a duvet and pillow appeared. Charlie put his book away and went over to the sofa. 

“We need to…” 

Holly turned around and Charlie lost his train of thought. Her hair had started to curl where it had dried and she smelled faintly of daisies and chamomile tea. 

“We need to do what?” Holly said gazing up at him from underneath her eyelashes. 

Charlie swallowed. Before he could say something there was a sharp knock at the door. Bill entered the room and Charlie thought his brother’s eyebrows would disappear into his hairline when he saw him and Holly stand so close together. And Holly was practically wearing nothing. Charlie turned towards his brother, standing slightly in front of Holly to shield her from Bill’s view. 

“Sorry to interrupt”, he winked at Charlie, “but mum wanted to know whether you need anything?” 

Charlie felt Holly move around behind him and the young witch stepped around him, now wearing his jumper again. 

“No, thank you. I’m just tired. Charlie was just about to cast the alerting spell on me.” Holly said, and Charlie thought she sounded a little shaky.

Bill beamed at them. “Excellent. Well, Charlie, I think it’ll work a lot better if you’d use your wand. You know, the wooden stick currently laying on your bedside table.” 

Bill left again and they could hear him laughing all the way back to his room. Charlie stumbled back to his bed and grabbed his wand. Stupid Bill. His mum had already said goodnight, his brother was just being a nosey git. He repeated the words Remus had taught him. Then he said goodnight to Holly and crept under his duvet. With a quick wish to Merlin to at least not let him snore tonight on his mind he fell asleep.

~\~

Charlie woke with the uneasy feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes and sat up. Holly was sitting on the couch, dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt, and looking at him with her head in her hands. Her hair was hanging down her head in waves. She didn’t look embarrassed to have been caught watching him. Even though he had no reason to, Charlie thought he was blushing again. He threw his blanket back and stood up, trying his best not to look unnerved by her staring.  
“Morning.” He said and yawned.

“You snore.” Holly said matter of factly. 

Charlie swore under his breath. “I’m sorry.” 

He ruffled his hair, not quite sure what else to say. To his surprise Holly gave him a weak smile. 

“It’s okay. It was quite soothing actually.” 

Charlie grinned back at her and disappeared into the ensuite to have a quick shower. When he came back out again Holly had her hair up in a bun and was wearing his jumper again. Charlie considered commenting on it, but decided not to in the end. He didn’t mind her wearing it. And she probably was just wearing it to keep up the lie of being his girlfriend. 

“I can smell coffee. Shall we go to breakfast?” Holly said pulling on her, no his, jumper almost nervously. 

“Yeah, I’m starving.” 

Charlie lead her downstairs and when they entered the kitchen he realised what may have caused her to feel nervous. As well as his siblings and Hermione, Tonks and his dad had shown up for breakfast. The chatter stopped abruptly when the two of them went to sit down on the large table. Bill was winking at him again and Tonks gave him a downright suggestive grin. His father was blushing furiously and Charlie now knew where he had it from. At least the twins hadn’t arrived yet. Thinking that Holly most be feeling even more awkward than him he gently grabbed her arm and lead her to two free seats next to each other at the far end of the table. He looked up and everyone seemed to be looking at him and Holly. 

“Good morning everyone. Dad, I don’t think you have met Holly yet.” He said, looking at his dad pleadingly and hoping that he wouldn’t make this embarrassing. 

“No, I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure.” His dad replied. 

To Charlie’s surprise Holly stood back up and went to shake his dad’s hand. 

“Good morning Mr Weasley. Very nice to meet you.” She said and Charlie could not detect any nerves in her voice. She was back to being Holly, the spy. Whatever nerves he had seen upstairs in their room she had hidden now. Charlie was not sure how he should feel about her letting her guard down in front of him. 

His mother entered the kitchen with a hungover looking Sirius and Lupin in tow. 

“Found them! Right, now we better have breakfast.” 

She waved her wand and toast, sausages and eggs floated over to the table. Holly ducked under a jug of orange juice and made her way back to sit beside him. Tonks and Bill were now sitting right across from them. 

“Well who would have thought we’d see each other again, Bu-ouch!” 

Bill had elbowed Tonks into her side. Tonks bit her lip when she realised what she had almost said. The four of them looked around but luckily his dad was shouting across to his mum who was still busy waving her wand and directing more breakfast goods towards the table. Holly stood up. 

“I better help your mother.” She joined his mum organising tea and coffee.

“Sorry! Bill filled me in this morning.” Tonks said sheepishly. 

“It’s okay, Tonks. The twins are arriving this afternoon and I have the feeling they’ll see right through it all straight away.” Charlie said defeatedly. 

“Well, the way you are acting now, you are not helping the situation. Every time you accidentally touch Holly you turn bright red and pull your hand back as if you got burnt. You can’t be afraid of touching your girlfriend, Charlie.” Bill said and helped himself to a piece of toast. 

Tonks rolled her eyes at Bill but nodded nevertheless at what he had said. 

“He’s right. You look downright uncomfortable with the whole situation. And I can’t see why you would be! She’s a pretty girl. Enjoy it!” Tonks smiled at him encouragingly. 

“Well I can’t just fondle her, it’s erm well it’s impolite.” 

“What’s impolite?” Holly had joined them again and, once again, Charlie felt himself turning red. 

“Fondling you.” Tonks said matter of factly. 

Holly faced Charlie, nibbling on a piece of toast whilst seemingly considering something. “I guess you are talking about keeping up this charade in a believable fashion?” 

The word charade stung but Charlie nodded. “I see. Well, even if you consider it impolite or unpleasant, you’ll have to put in a bit more effort, Charlie. Seeing as it could be endangering the mission Dumbledore has tasked me with.” 

Charlie wanted to tell her that he would not find it unpleasant (at all) but before he could say anything Holly had moved down the table to speak to his parents. Bill snickered into his tea. 

“Unpleasant? Charlie, you love cuddling with fire breathing monsters but draw the line at a former Slytherin?” Tonks asked incredulously. 

“I don’t. I erm it’s not that it is unpleasant but well I don’t really know her and well.” 

Charlie did not know how to express himself properly. He had the creeping feeling that he would actually quite like to touch Holly but not under these bizarre circumstances. He finished his breakfast in silence whilst Tonks and Bill were talking animatedly about the newest developments in curse breaking. 

“Charlie, I need you to go and meet Fred and George in Diagon Alley this morning.” His mum called to him from down the table where she was sitting with his dad and Holly. 

“Sure. Erm, Holly will you be okay to stay here?” 

Before she could answer his mum was talking again. “Of course she will be. Holly’s volunteered to help Ron, Ginny and Hermione detoxifying the attic.” 

She gave Holly a warm smile which Holly, to his surprise, returned with a real smile. Seeing it made Charlie’s toes tingle in a funny way. Everyone started to get up and Charlie, who intended to go to Diagon Alley straight away to run some errands before meeting up with the twins, ended up standing in front of Holly. 

“So, erm, see you later?” He said, ruffling his hair. 

Holly smiled at him, not the same kind of smile she had blessed his mum with, but a smile nevertheless. Charlie could feel everyone watching them. Determined to prove to Tonks and Bill that he was in fact not afraid of Holly and quickly before he lost his nerve he bend down and placed a light kiss on Holly’s lips. At first Holly looked like she was about to slap him but then she smiled. 

“See you!” Charlie said again and rushed out of the door past Snape who had apparently just arrived and was standing in the doorway. He could not get out of the house quickly enough, determined for nobody to see his red face this time.

Chapter 4 

Holly could not believe that Charlie had just kissed her. She lightly touched her lips with her fingers, oblivious to the chatter around her. Then her gaze fell on Snape and he looked furious. Without greeting anyone the potions professor mentioned for her to follow him. Holly did not even hesitate for one second and followed him towards a small sitting room further down the corridor. She closed the door quietly behind her. 

“What on earth was that?” Snape snapped at her. 

Holly took a deep breath and then filled him in on Mrs Weasleys cover story and the reasons behind it. For a long while Snape said nothing. “And that kiss just now was just to make it more believable.” Holly added, not able to stand the silence any longer. 

“Miss Burr, I am very certain that you are able to operate with a complete detachment from your emotions. You have shown that on several occasions. However, when it comes to Mr Charlie Weasley I cannot be so certain. I do not think that he will be able to keep his feelings detached from this whole situation.” Snape turned to face away from her, staring out of the window instead. “And whilst I do not personally care about young Mr Weasley’s emotional well-being it may well cause problems to arise in the pursuit of your mission.” 

Holly reflected briefly on the methods she’d been using so far to gather information for Dumbledore. Snape turned back to face her. 

“Gryffindors are prone to let their feelings control their actions. I would be careful in your place. You do not want a lovestruck Weasley endanger your mission. You never know how recklessly he may act once he knows exactly how you manage to obtain your information.” 

Holly internally cursed herself for telling Snape about how she had gotten McNeagan to leave the party with her. He had correctly deducted that this was her usual way of operating. 

“I know what I am doing. And he understands perfectly that this is just for the two weeks or so I am to stay here. And I have not bled again since that one time yesterday before we spoke. Maybe the hex is not as long lasting as you thought.” 

Snape regarded her. “So that is not blood dripping down your hand this very moment?” 

Holly lifted her hand and, as Snape had observed correctly, a steady trickle of blood was running down her hand. She pulled up her other hand and it too was bloodied. Suddenly the room began spinning around her.   
Holly woke to a concerned Mrs Weasley looking down at her. She was wearing a different pair of jeans and a Weird Sister’s t-shirt. Charlie’s jumper was gone. 

“Are you okay, flower?” Mrs Weasley asked gently. Holly just nodded, she didn’t trust her voice just yet. “You fainted but we patched you up again pretty quickly. Remus reckons you lost a lot less blood, so that is good.” Mrs Weasley smiled at her warmly. “I couldn’t get into your bag but luckily Tonks had some spare clothes with her.” 

Holly took a few sips of the strengthening potion Mrs Weasley held up to her face. “Thank you.” She whispered, her voice not as hoarse as she expected. Holly looked around the room but Snape had gone. 

“Severus had to leave.” Mrs Weasley said, interpreting her wandering gaze correctly. 

“I see. Can I ask you something, Mrs Weasley?” Holly said, her voice now stronger. 

“Of course my dear.” “Is Charlie okay with this, this whole cover story? I don’t want to erm well I don’t want it to be awkward.” Holly felt herself blushing. 

Mrs Weasley considered her for a moment. Holly was not quite sure what to make of the expression on the older witch’s face. 

“Don’t worry, Holly. He’s fine. Charlie is probably the worst liar out of all my sons so he is just struggling to pretend. The kiss was a nice touch though. Did not expect it.” Mrs Weasley smiled and Holly felt herself blushing more deeply. 

She cleared her throat and slowly tried to get up. “Well I better go and supervise Ron and the girls clearing out the attic.”

~\~ 

The attic was absolute mayhem when Holly had finally made it upstairs. Mrs Weasley had insisted she had a strong cup of tea first. Charlie’s youngest brother was wearing huge gloves and was spraying Detoxify around wildly. Hermione and Ginny had resorted to whacking doxies out of the air using something that looked like huge fly swatters. Ginny was much less timid than Hermione and every time she took aim another doxy dropped to the floor. With a quick flick of her wand and a muttered “Stupefy” Holly stunned the remaining doxies. The three teens froze and there was a general sense of relief when they saw her standing by the door. With another flick of her wand Holly made the doxies drop neatly in an empty basket. Hermione watched her with interest. 

“You are really good at that.” She said without a hint of jealousy.   
Holly smiled at her. “I suppose so. My grandparents have an old house out in the country and I have spent many summers trying to get on top of the doxies in their wine cellar.” Holly flicked her wand again and the doxies that had been whacked and sprayed by the threesome before she arrived joined their peers in the basket. “Why don’t you open the window, Ron? The fumes are pretty bad up here.” 

Ron blushed at her addressing him but went to open the attic window. For a while the four of them awkwardly stood around. Holly noticed them looking at the cuts on her arms but they didn’t ask her about it. Maybe hanging out with Harry Potter had desensitised them to people having scars. 

“I’m really surprised that mum lets you sleep in a room with Charlie. Fleur, that’s Bill’s girlfriend, isn’t allowed.” Ginny eventually said, matter of factly. Ron was blushing even more furiously and Hermione was suddenly very interested in the fly swatter she was holding. 

“Maybe it’s a space issue.” Holly said, trying to sound as nonchalantly as possible. 

“So do you really like him then?” Ginny prodded further. 

Holly was not sure whether she found this girl’s overprotectiveness over her older brother annoying or endearing. “Yes.” She said eventually, not willing to elaborate any further. 

The young witch seemed satisfied with her short answer. “Good. Because I think he really likes you too. He looks at you like he does at a Hebridean Black.” Holly raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, that’s a good thing! It’s his favourite dragon.” Ginny said quickly. Holly gave her another smile. She was hoping, for her and Charlie’s sake, that Ginny was interpreting his looks wrongly. 

“Well, Charlie has never brought a girlfriend home, so you must be special I suppose.” Ron said quietly from his spot by the window without looking at her. 

Holly didn’t know what to say to that but luckily they could hear Mrs Weasley calling form downstairs that lunch was ready. Ginny grabbed the basked filled with doxies and after shutting the window with a flick of her wand Holly followed the three teens down the stairs. When they got to the second floor she excused herself and walked to the bedroom she shared with Charlie. Holly went to the couch and grabbed her bag. She didn’t really want to go to lunch with her cuts showing. Maybe someone would ask and she hadn’t really thought of a believable cover story yet. And she didn’t like the way everyone was looking at them. Charlie had been staring at the cuts all over her body last night too and it had made her feel uncomfortable. She rummaged through her bag for a jumper when her gaze fell on the wardrobe next to the large four poster bed in the middle of the room. Holly put the bag back down and walked up to the wardrobe. Surely Charlie wouldn’t mind her wearing another one of his jumpers. Apart from them being very comfortable she felt that they lend their lie a bit more credibility. Holly found another one of Mrs Weasley’s knitted jumpers, it was dark green and had a small dragon on the front. Holly smiled at it and put it on. 

“Erm, Holly?” 

She turned around quickly but it was only Charlie who looked very uncomfortable. Holly cleared her throat and straightened the jumper unnecessarily. “I hope you don’t mind. I just thought that wearing your jumpers is a good thing to go with. Like for more credibility. Sorry for going into your closet.” She said defensively. 

“Oh, sure. I don’t mind at all. They suit you.” Charlie blushed again. “Erm. Mum told me that you were bleeding again. Are you okay?” 

Holly clearly heard the concern in his voice. “Yeah. I fainted so it wasn’t as painful as before. But I may have ruined your other jumper. That’s why I was getting another one.” Holly started pulling the jumper back over her head. “Actually, I shouldn’t be wearing them. I might ruin this one too.” She said, her voice muffled as she had the jumper over her head still. 

“Oh, no, keep it on. I have so many, it doesn’t matter. And I think mum can get anything out of them, so I’m sure the other one will be fine.” 

Holly pulled the jumper back down. Charlie had walked a little bit closer to her. He looked like there was something he really wanted to get off his chest. 

“Was everything ok in Diagon Alley?” Holly asked, keen to keep him talking. The more they talked, the less uncomfortable Charlie would be around her. She hoped. 

“Yeah, it was all good.” Charlie wouldn’t look at her. “I just wanted to apologise for this morning. I shouldn’t have just kissed you like that. It was just that Tonks and Bill were teasing me about - well it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.” Charlie said, still looking at the floor. 

Holly sighed. She walked up to Charlie and put her hands up on his shoulders so he would look at her. He did so eventually, his cheeks still blushing lightly. 

“Don’t apologise. It was the right thing to do. I don’t want anyone to find out why I am really here. After I have recovered I will have to work quickly to make up for the time lost. And I’d rather do so without having to worry that someone knows that I’m working for Dumbledore.” 

“Sure. It’s just a strange situation. I’m not good at pretending. I suppose that’s why Dumbledore has me working abroad, out in the open. Don’t you find it weird?”   
Holly let go of Charlie’s shoulders and wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s kind of what I do anyway.” 

Charlie looked at her, frowning. Now it was Holly’s turn to talk to the floor. 

“I pretend a lot. People talk a lot when their guard is down and there are certain situations where their guard is down naturally.” Holly gave Charlie a minute to consider her words. When she looked up again he looked taken aback. 

“Why are you doing it?” He said eventually. 

“The same reason why you are doing it. To protect my family. They have managed to survive last time without having to join the dark lord. But it’s not going to be the same now. And I don’t want my cousin having to join. Most of his friends already have and he would just get himself killed. So I will do whatever it takes to give Dumbledore an advantage.” 

Holly blinked away the tears that had started to gather in her eyes. She did not want for Charlie to think her weak. Charlie lifted his arms and for a second Holly thought he was going to hug her. She cleared her throat again and stepped back. She did not want nor need his pity. 

“So you will have to work a little bit harder to make this more believable. We ought to go downstairs for lunch.” 

Holly resolutely wiped her eyes once more and walked out of the room, not waiting to see whether Charlie would follow her. When Holly entered the kitchen most of the order was already tucking into their lunch. Black and Lupin were sitting in their usual spot on the end of the table closest to her. Bill and Tonks were also sitting next to them, the foursome was discussing who may replace Lupin as Hogwart’s defence against the dark arts teacher. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were joking around with another pair of Weasleys. They were identical so quite obviously Fred and George who Charlie had picked up in Diagon Alley earlier today. Holly was unsure as to where she should sit. Everyone at the table was talking and, although for once she was happy that nobody was staring at her, she did not want to interrupt. Before she had to make a decision, Charlie had appeared behind her. He resolutely took her hand and lead her to where his younger siblings sat. 

“Fred, George - this is Holly. Who I told you about.” 

Holly was surprised by how confident his voice sounded all of a sudden. She smiled at the twins and they said hello. One of the twins turned to Ginny and stage whispered “You are right, she is pretty!” to her. Charlie sighed next to her. Without saying anything else he lead her up towards the far end of the table. She sat down and Charlie said down on her left, shielding her from view. 

“I will not be the one to put you in danger.” He whispered to her. 

~|~

After lunch, Holly and Charlie joined the twins, Ron, Ginny and Hermione in the downstairs sitting room. Although it was the height of summer outside the room was dark and someone had lit a fire. Ron was playing chess with one of the twins and Ginny and Hermione were sitting in front of the fire, discussing an article about Harry Potter that had been published in the Golden Prophet. The other twin, Holly thought she’d never be able to tell them apart, was pulling out books from the dusty book shelf at random and opening them. Charlie sat down on a small sofa across from the fire and before Holly could decide on where to sit he had pulled her towards him. Underestimating his strength, Holly more or less crashed down and landed halfway on top of him. Holly did not want to look whether they were now all staring at them but as it would most likely be the case she might as well use the opportunity. Holly moved herself upright so she was properly sitting on Charlie’s lap. She leaned back, her head resting on his shoulder. Holly felt Charlie straightening himself under her and hesitantly putting his left arm around her waist so she was now comfortably nestled against him. She grabbed his left hand and linked her right hand with it. Holly looked up and everyone was pretending not to watch them with varying degrees of success. 

“So, Holly. Charlie said that you work for an apothecary?” The twin by the bookshelf asked her. 

Holly thought that this was probably Fred, Mrs Weasley had told her that he was the more confident of the two. 

“I do, yes.” 

Fred, well Holly thought it was Fred, put the book he was flicking through back to its place on the shelf and went to lazily lounge on an armchair across from them. 

“So you are really good at Potions, I take it?” 

Holly felt Charlie stiffen under her in anticipation where this might be going. “I’d say so, yes.” Holly answered nonchalantly. 

Fred grinned. “That’s cool. It’s just that Snape has set us this really annoying homework over the summer and mum said that we were only allowed to go and stay at Lee’s for a couple of weeks if we’d finish all our summer homework before that. And well, we didn’t. And now we are here and all our books are at the burrow. So maybe you can help us? Seeing that you are pretty much our sister-in-law and whatnot.” He said the last sentence with a grin directed at Charlie behind her. 

Holly hoped that Charlie didn’t look too shocked. 

“I don’t know about the sister-in-law bit but I can help you. What is your homework?” Holly heard Ginny giggle. 

“Fred, you should really be doing your homework yourself. You ought to have finished it at the beginning of the summer.” Hermione said, sounding a lot like Mrs Weasley. Fred ignored her. 

“We have to write an essay about what we consider to be the five most important potions we have learned so far. I can’t really think of any. And he’s asked us to describe how they are made.” 

Holly thought about it for a moment. She faintly remembered having been set the same homework in the year before her N.E.W.Ts. “I can help you. But if you are struggling, why don’t you ask Snape to bring some books with him the next time he comes round?”

As soon as she had said it, Holly realised it was definitely the wrong thing to say. They all were in Gryffindor so obviously Snape, as the head of their rival house, would not be on good terms with them. And they’ve all seen her talk to Snape so she couldn’t even pretend that she didn’t know him and just made assumptions about their teacher. 

“Well you probably don’t know Snape well as a teacher, but if I dared to ask him for help he’d take points off me before the year has even started. If that’s even possible.” Fred said and Holly tried to mask her feeling uncomfortable with a laugh. 

“Holly, did you go to Hogwarts or one of the schools abroad?” Hermione said, looking up from the Daily Prophet article. 

Before Holly could make up a lie, Ron piped up. “Of course she went to Hogwarts. Didn’t you hear Tonks talking about the Transfiguration lesson they once had together? Where Tonks transformed herself rather than the tea pot she was meant to turn into a turtle.” 

Holly silently cursed Tonks and her big mouth. Hermione turned back to face her. “Oh yeah I forgot. She said that you were upset that she made Professor McGonagall so angry that she dismissed everyone before she could see that your tea pot was a perfect snapping turtle.” 

Holly did her best to smile at Hermione. “I remember that. I think I ended up putting the turtle into Tonks’ bag.” 

The twins looked at her appreciatively. Hermione looked less impressed. 

“So which house were you in? Ravenclaw?” Ginny asked.   
Holly nodded without hesitating. There was no way she was going to admit to being a former Slytherin in a room full of Gryffindors. 

“And were you and Charlie friends at Hogwarts?” Ginny continued with her interrogation. 

“Not really. I wasn’t really into Quidditch and we didn’t have many classes together. Just Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.” Holly said, hoping Ginny did not expect some sort of teen romance story out of her. 

Hermione frowned. “Aren’t those classes usually shared by Gryffindor and Slytherin?” She asked. 

Charlie had gone completely still. Holly did not think she could rely on him coming to the rescue. “Not always. They kind of just mix it up.” 

Hermione did not look convinced. Desperate to get out of what had started to become a very dangerous situation to be in Holly turned around to face Charlie. 

“Erm, Charlie, you said you’d give me a tour of the house today?” She said sweetly. 

“What? Oh yes. Sure. Let’s go.” 

Charlie cleared his throat and Holly pulled him after her out of the door. She could hear the twins snicker. Obviously they thought Charlie and her had something else in mind. Holly did not care. She just wanted to get away from Ginny’s questions and Hermione’s brain. 

Chapter 5

Charlie did end up giving Holly a tour of the manor. She seemed to be particularly interested in his descriptions of all the pests and dark trinkets they had to get rid off to make the house liveable. Charlie also made a mental note to tell Tonks and Bill that they should stick to the story of Holly having been in Ravenclaw. He had been worried about Fred and George seeing right through them but Ginny and Hermione had turned out to be the bigger threat. When they were away from everyone else Holly seemed much more relaxed. She wasn’t quite the smiley person she pretended to be around his parents and siblings but also not as cold as he had seen her when she had been talking to Sirius. They spend quite a bit of time in yet another sitting room upstairs reminiscing about Hogwarts. At one point she actually laughed and Charlie felt quite pleased with himself that it was him who’d made her laugh. Charlie also told her everything about his job in Romania. She wasn’t really interested all that much in his work with the dragons there but more in the task Dumbledore had set him. He spoke to her honestly but refrained from asking her any more questions about her task. He still was not sure what to make of it and how it made him feel. When his mum called them down for dinner they seemed much more comfortable with each other. And Charlie thought that Holly seemed to pretend less but maybe that was just in his head. She had after all said that she was really good at it. Dinner was also a much more relaxed occasion. Nobody was staring at them any longer and Charlie found himself taking Holly’s hand at some point and not letting go of it until they’d finished their dessert. Bill grinned at him a couple of times but Charlie chose to ignore it. His younger siblings and Hermione were told to go to bed by his mum and after they all had a glass of firewhiskey Charlie noticed Holly getting tired next to him. His mum seemed to notice too. 

“Charlie, go and take Holly up to your room before she falls asleep at the table. Holly, you must rest, or you’ll never get better.” She chided the two of them. 

Charlie grabbed Holly’s arm and the pair said their goodnights. Once they were in their room Holly seemed to perk up a bit. “I like your mother. It’s nice to have someone look out for you like that.” 

Charlie did not always appreciate his mother worrying about everyone and everything but he still nodded in agreement. “Yeah. And she really likes you too. I can tell.” 

Holly looked slightly uncomfortable at his statement. “Well, I better get ready for bed.” She said, grabbed her bag and disappeared into the ensuite. 

Charlie quickly got changed into his pyjamas and picked up his copy of dragons of the Americas again. Just as he sat down on his bed Holly reappeared from the bathroom. She was wearing long dark blue pyjama bottoms and a long-sleeved white top this time. Charlie hoped it was not because he’d been staring at her rather skimpy clothes the night before. Her hair was still up in a bun. 

“What are you reading?” Holly asked and to his surprise climbed into bed to sit down beside him, both their backs resting against the headboard of the stately bed. 

Charlie closed the book so she could read the title. “It’s quite good. There are some inaccuracies when it comes to the dragons in the Amazon rain forest but apart from that, it makes for an interesting read.” 

Holly did not look convinced. “Inaccuracies?” She asked. 

“Well, it says here that the largest dragons there are about the size of a small cow but there are actually much larger dragons. Well or longer ones anyway. And you wouldn’t believe the size of the dragon that lives in the Amazonian river.” Charlie looked back up from the book and Holly was regarding him with a strange expression on her face. He cleared his throat. “But nevermind about that. I better cast the alerting spell on you before you go to bed.” 

He grabbed his wand from the bedside table and waved it over Holly, uttering the words Remus had taught him. 

“All done.” He said, but Holly did not show any intent to move. 

Charlie put his book and wand back on the bedside table. Holly was still in the bed next to him. Maybe he should offer to sleep on the couch? It can’t be very comfortable. And her not moving might be a subtle way of telling him to suggest the swap. But before he could ask her, Holly had moved closer and then she pressed her lips against his. Charlie was too shocked to react. And by the time he had actually processed what was happening she had moved back again. 

“I’m sorry.” Holly whispered. “I don’t know what-“ 

Charlie did not intent to let her finish that sentence. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her. Properly kissed her. After a moment she was reciprocating his kiss and he could feel her melt towards his body. He tentatively moved his left hand up her pyjama top and she pressed herself even more closely against him. They parted for a moment to catch their breaths and Holly opened her mouth, quite obviously to say something that would make sense and therefore make this stop, so Charlie pulled her close again and kissed her once more. He gently moved on top of her, careful not to put too much of his weight on her. Holly was pulling on his top so they parted again, this time just long enough for him to get rid off his t-shirt. Their kiss deepened even more and Charlie reached under her top again. When his hand reached her breast she moaned against his lips. Suddenly he felt a pinging sound in his head. Irritated he stopped the kiss. Holly was looking up to him her eyes glazed over. The pinging sound rang again in his head and then Holly screamed. Charlie quickly shuffled to get off of her thinking he’d done something but then he saw the blood running down her forehead. He jumped up and could now see that her pyjama bottoms and top were red where they had soaked up the blood that was again running from Holly’s cuts. Holly screamed again, it was a bloodcurdling sound. And then his door bust open and Remus and Bill rushed into his room. Remus took one look at Charlie, standing by the side of the bed only wearing his pyjama bottoms and Holly, now drenched in her own blood. 

“Go fetch your mother, Bill.” Remus snapped at his older brother who left without hesitation. 

Remus rushed up to the bed and waved his wand over Holly whilst muttering something. The blood seemed to slow down. With another flicker of his wand, Remus conjured extra bedding on top of the sofa. 

“Charlie, you better put your shirt on.” 

Charlie felt himself turn bright red and he grabbed his t-shirt from where it had fallen on the floor. Just as he had pulled it over his head his mother came rushing in followed by Snape. The latter gave Charlie a look filled with utter disgust. 

“What happened, Charlie? I could hear Holly scream all the way down to the kitchen. I was already on my way when Bill came storming towards me.” His mother asked while conjuring some bandages to wrap Holly’s wounds in. 

“I think I didn’t cast the alerting spell correctly. We went to sleep and next thing I knew, she was screaming.” Charlie said, looking anywhere but at his mother’s face. His gaze landed on Snape and it was obvious to Charlie that the potions teacher did not believe a single word that was coming out of his mouth. 

Remus was casting some more spells on Holly, who had finally stopped screaming. Tears were running down her face and mixing with the blood that had been dripping down her forehead just moments ago. 

“Oh Remus, this is just no good. I need to clear the blood off of her before I wrap her up again. Please help me get her into the shower.” His mother said, the bandages in her hands dripping with blood. Remus gently picked Holly up from the bed and carried her into the ensuite, his mother following after him. 

“Maybe we need to rethink Miss Burr’s sleeping arrangements if you are not able to cast a simple alerting spell.” Snape hissed at him from his position next to the sofa from which he had not moved whilst Remus and his mother had helped Holly. 

Charlie just glared at him angrily. He could hear his mum and Remus talking quietly in the bathroom and then the shower being turned on. 

“And I wonder how deeply you were asleep in this freshly made bed. Or did you decide to tidy up before calling for help?” Snape’s voice was dripping with contempt. 

Charlie was now blushing furiously. Before he could say anything to defend himself, Bill came back into the room closing the door again behind him. 

“Is she alright? I told the others that a doxy attacked Holly when she opened a drawer that we’d overlooked whilst clearing out this room.” Bill said, slightly out of breath. 

“Mum and Remus are in the bathroom with her now. I think she’ll be alright.” 

Charlie felt awful. What if he had somehow set the curse off again? His mum and Remus appeared again, Remus carrying a now wrapped up Holly in his arms. He put her down on the bed. 

“She’ll be fine. The cuts on her body were not bleeding as badly as it looked at first. She just needs to sleep now.” Remus said, emphasising the word sleep whilst looking at Charlie. 

Charlie thought he was just about ready for the ground to swallow him whole. His mum lightly brushed Holly’s forehead before bidding them all goodnight and leaving with Bill. 

Snape cleared his throat. “Maybe Miss Burr would be safer with someone else looking over her.” He said, not looking at anyone directly. 

Charlie regarded Holly. She was deadly pale and had her eyes closed. Maybe Snape was right. 

“Nonsense. Charlie is perfectly capable of looking after her.” Remus said with more confidence in him than Charlie thought he deserved. 

The two older wizards glared at each other and eventually Snape left without another word. 

“The alerting spell worked?” Remus asked Charlie who nodded yes. 

“I erm I just didn’t realise quickly enough what it was.”

Remus regarded him for a moment. He then took another look at Holly who now seemed to be fast asleep. “Listen, Charlie. I think I have a very good idea what was going on just before the curse was set off again.” Charlie blushed. “I am not judging you for it. You and Holly are both young and have been put in a very tempting situation. But you have to be careful. Once Holly is well again, she will leave and continue with what she’s been doing before she got hurt. And you will have to make sure that you are ready for her to leave. Because she will be.” Remus looked at him intently. “I suggest you spend the remainder of the night on the sofa.” He said and left Charlie to think on his words.

~|~

When Charlie woke up the next morning, Holly was gone. He got up, his back aching from the weird sleeping position he’d been forced into because of the small size of the sofa. Charlie had a quick shower and got dressed. He did his best not to look at the bed. Charlie still felt guilty about what had happened the night before. And he was confused about his feelings towards Holly. He was quite obviously attracted to her but Remus’ words had left him wondering whether it’d be smart to pursuit this further. And that was without taking the whole implications of what Holly was doing into account. Charlie sighed and headed downstairs, hoping a full stomach would help the decision making process. The house seemed eerily quiet and only Bill was sitting at the large table in the kitchen.

“Where is everyone?” Charlie asked whilst helping himself to some bacon and eggs that had been left in a pan on the now cold oven. 

“Mum has taken everyone back to the burrow for some, what she called outside time. I reckon she’s making them degnome the garden. Remus is out on order business and Sirius is sulking in his bedroom. He’s not taking being stuck here well.” Bill said and took a sip of the coffee in front of him.

Charlie sat down across from him and chewed on his breakfast. “And Holly?” He asked eventually, trying to make his voice sound as even as possible. 

Bill grinned at him. “She talked Snape into taking her back to her flat for some things. Mum and Remus had left by then so there was nobody trying to stop her. And I don’t think Snape wants her staying here anymore anyway.” 

Charlie blushed. Obviously Bill had worked out as well what had happened in his room just before Holly had suffered from the effects of the curse once more. 

“That was stupid, wasn’t it?” Charlie said eventually, not quite sure whether he wanted his older brother to agree or disagree with him. 

“Well. It depends. If you were horny, no. If you like her, yes.” Bill said matter of factly. 

Charlie put down his fork and waved his wand. A mug and the teapot started to float towards him. When they plopped down on the table, Charlie filled up the cup and had a sip before answering. 

“That’s the thing. I’m don’t really know. I mean, I was definitely horny.”, he blushed, “but we’ve had a really nice afternoon. Just talking.” He emptied his cup and filled it up again.

“Charlie, how much do you know about Holly? I mean, not from when you both were at Hogwarts or the work she does for Dumbledore.” Bill suddenly sounded very serious.

“I know that she loves her family. And that her dad used to play Quidditch.” Charlie said, unsure where Bill was trying to go with this. 

“Tonks and I were talking a bit earlier this morning. I don’t really know much about what is going on at the ministry at the moment because I’ve been abroad for so long. But her dad is the Burr in Flint and Burr im- and exports. Her uncle, Marcus Flint’s dad, is the head of the international trading regulations. And Tonks told me this morning that they’ve been raided quite a few times because of rumours about them trading mainly in objects related to the dark arts. Nobody was ever able to prove anything but her family is very well connected.” Bill took another sip of his coffee.

“Well, it was obvious that she would be. How else would she be able to get into you-know-who’s inner circles. Her family must be providing them with dark artefacts.” Charlie didn’t think Bill was telling him anything that he hadn’t figured out himself. 

“Yes. So do you think she’ll be inviting you round for Sunday night dinner any time soon?” 

“What?” 

“Charlie. Even without everything else that is going on, you must realise that you are not the son-in-law her family would want her to have. Tonks knows quite a bit about all that from her mother. With Holly being their only daughter, she won’t be able to have much say in who she’s going to eventually marry.” 

“Nobody said anything about marrying.” Charlie did definitely not appreciate the way this conversation was going. 

“Not yet. But you’re not the type for loose arrangements. I know I’ve been pissing about with the whole situation but you have to know where you stand.” 

Charlie chewed on a piece of bacon whilst thinking about what to say next. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future. The situation may be completely different to know in a couple of years.”

“Sure. But don’t forget that Holly was sorted into Slytherin for a reason. They’re an ambitious lot. And she won’t want to disappoint her family.” Bill held is hands up. “So keep snogging her by all means, but don’t ignore the bigger picture.”

~|~

Charlie rummaged through some boxes in the cellar whilst thinking back on his conversation with Bill. He had zero arguments against the points his older brother had made. Charlie opened another box and stupefied a doxy that was clinging to an old wooden jewellery box. 

“Bill said you were down here.” 

Charlie jumped but relaxed when he recognised the voice. Holly was standing by the cellar door. She was wearing a dark skirt and a dark green blouse made of silk. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a severe looking plait. Charlie thought she had looked nicer in jeans and one of his jumpers. 

“Yeah. Mum left us a list of things to work through and apparently there is a boggart somewhere down here. So far I’ve only found doxies.” He pointed at the paralysed doxy at his feet. 

“Right.” It seemed to Charlie that Holly did not want to look him in the eyes. “Well, I just wanted to say that Snape has found a potion that I can take to fend off the effects of the exsanguine spell. So I probably won’t have to stay for much longer.” 

“Oh. That’s good.” Charlie opened the wooden box to give his hands something to do. It was filled to the brim with jewellery that was probably worth more than his family’s home. Thinking about money made him think about what Bill had said about Holly’s family at breakfast. 

“I wouldn’t touch any of that. It’s probably cursed.” Holly said and Charlie closed the lid again. Did Holly think he was so desperate for money that he would steal cursed jewellery from Sirius?

“You’d know. Do you want to take it back to your dad?” He said, offering the wooden box to her. Holly looked taken aback. Charlie tried not to care.

“No.” She finally looked at his face. “We need to talk about last night.” 

Charlie hoped the darkness of the cellar would hide him blushing somewhat. “I’m sorry for not reacting to the alerting spell quicker.”

Holly shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I was talking about what happened before that.” 

Charlie did not say anything. He didn’t even know what to say anyway. But he really wanted to hear her take on it. 

“Look, I am not going to pretend that I did not enjoy it. Or that I am not attracted to you.” Holly paused, waiting for him to say something. He didn’t. She sighed. “But I think we both know that it was a stupid thing to do. So it’s probably best that I am going to leave soon. And you can just tell your siblings that we broke up or something.” 

Charlie smiled. If he ignored the last bit, it wasn’t all that bad. She had enjoyed it. And she fancied him. Everything else they could work out later. Holly seemed confused by his smile. 

“I might be able to leave tonight. Snape is brewing the potion now.” She added, clearly trying to get him to say something. 

“I don’t think it was stupid.” He said eventually, watching her carefully. 

“Charlie, it was! You know what I am doing, it would not work with, well whatever this is.” Holly said agitatedly. 

“But you don’t know.” He replied stubbornly. 

And before she could get into more the detail as to why it wouldn’t work, Charlie decided to kiss her again. He walked up to her, wrapped her into his arms and kissed her. He could feel her say something against his lips but he just kissed her more deeply until she started reciprocating the kiss. Charlie lifted her gently and pressed her against a wall. Holly wrapped his legs around his waist and Charlie carelessly ripped her blouse open. She moaned when Charlie kissed down her neck towards her breasts. He stopped for a moment to pull his trousers down and when he looked up, Holly had just finished taking her panties off. Charlie heard her swear quietly under her breath but then she was kissing him hungrily. He pulled his underwear down and lifted Holly up against the wall. When he entered her, all he could focus on was her moaning. Every other coherent thought had left his head. 

Chapter 6 

Holly took another sip of the champagne her uncle’s house elf had handed out earlier. She pretended to listen to her cousin Marcus going on about the latest Falmouth Falcon game he had been a part of. It was a week before Christmas and her uncle was throwing a party. It was the perfect opportunity for Holly to gather some more information about the dark lord’s plans regarding the prophecy but she struggled to focus. Although she tried her best, her thoughts kept returning to a certain red-haired wizard she had successfully managed to avoid since their, erm, conversation in the cellar of Black manor. No words were exchanged when the two of them had gotten dressed again and Holly had left quickly and hid in the library for the remainder of the day trying to clear her head. She was beyond relieved when Snape had shown up with the potion the very same evening and she was free to leave. Holly had said farewell to the Weasleys, Hermione and Lupin. Sirius Black did not deem her worthy of a goodbye. Charlie walked out with her, attempting to say something a few times but never getting past just opening his mouth and closing it again. Snape had waited for her in the park across the square and after a quick wave to Charlie, Holly and the potions professor disapparated. There had been no need for her to return to the order’s headquarter since. Holly was sure that Charlie had come up with a break up story in the meantime. At least she hoped he had. Well, what she had really hoped was for him to write to her but no owls came from him. Holly had started a letter (or more like ten) but they had all ended up in the bin. She was sure it was better this way. Pretty sure anyway.   
“Are you looking for someone?” Marcus asked, having noticed that Holly was not really listening to him. 

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She said, trying to focus on her cousin. “I’m sorry, what did you ask me?”

Marcus Flint rolled his eyes at her. “I asked whether you are looking for someone.”

“I - no, I’m not looking for anyone. I’m wondering who is already carrying the mark.” Holly answered, trying to evade her cousin’s probing eyes. 

“Most will be. He’s moved on from giving it to his inner cycle only. Avery said that he wasn’t happy with how many of his followers were able to defect so easily the first time around. Now he’s going to bind more people to him from the start.” Marcus said, absentmindedly rubbing his left forearm. 

Holly felt her insides turn to ice. She grabbed her cousin’s arm and pulled his robes up. The skin was unmarked. Marcus hissed at her and pulled is arm back.

“Sorry,” Holly said, looking around her, but nobody was paying them any attention, “but I had to check. You mustn’t, Marcus, promise me!” She demanded of her younger cousin. 

“Well, it’s not like I can say no when it eventually comes to it. They’ll want someone from our family.” Marcus said, ignoring Holly’s attempt to cut in. “And no, you will not do it. Your father will do it or mine. Although the dark lord will want fresh blood.” 

“The dark lord wants cannon fodder.” Holly swallowed. She knew that when it came down to it, she would not give her father or her uncle the chance to do it. She’d hide them away, all of them, her whole family. That was why she was doing all the work for the order for. She had made herself valuable to them, so Dumbledore would protect them. 

“Our family won’t be cannon fodder. We’ve got too many connections that he’d be stupid to waste.” Marcus took a look at all the important wizards and witches gathered in their family’s home. “I would also appreciate if you could refrain from sending my CV to Quidditch teams abroad.”

Holly tried her best to put on her most innocent expression. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” 

Marcus rolled his eyes at her again. He nodded towards a dark haired wizard who was standing a few feet away from them and talking to her father. “Barnaby Lee is asking for your hand in marriage again.” He said, his voice annoyingly gleeful.

Holly followed his gaze. “Don’t even joke about it. He’s trying to get his younger brother an internship next summer. Basil is doing his N.E.W.T.s next June and Barnaby just wants him to get into the business so they can work together.” 

“All Barnaby wants is to get into your bed. Revolting.” Marcus did not sound gleeful anymore. “I hope he has not succeeded.” He did not even phrase it as a question, clearly not wanting an answer either way. 

“He hasn’t. And he wont’t. We both know that it’d just be to get ahead.” Holly said, knowing that whoever married her would be receiving a huge business as a dowry. 

“Well, yes, obviously. But Holly, as much as it pains me to say it, there are a lot of wizards who want you, million galleon business or not. Quite a few of them are my mates, which is rather disgusting when they decide to get to you through me.” Marcus pulled a face. 

“Uh, which ones?” Holly asked, trying to piss her cousin off. 

“Gross.” Marcus waved and a house elf came over to exchange their now empty champagne glasses with full ones from a tray. They clinked glasses and drank. “But in all seriousness. Surely uncle has lined up someone for you? Who is it?” 

Holly took a long sip from her drink, not really wanting to answer the question. Charlie Weasley popped up in her head again. “If he has someone lined up for me, then I don’t know.” She said eventually.

“Have you got someone in mind? Sure, they’re all revolting, but there’s always the lesser evil. You must fancy someone.” 

Holly did her best to suppress the image of Charlie again. Especially the one of their last encounter in the cellar. “I don’t.”

Marcus was obviously not believing her. “Sure. And that disappearance last summer was really hair related. Snape is a shite liar.”

Holly bit down her response. Severus Snape was probably the most accomplished liar full stop but she couldn’t really tell her cousin that. 

“Especially since you came back all, well all mopey. Something obviously happened.” Her younger cousin looked fierce. “So just tell me who that git that broke your heart is and I will end him.” 

For a moment Holly thought to lie. But her cousin would see straight through her. The two of them had practically grown up like siblings, being close in age and both being an only child. “It’s fine, Marcus. It was more of a mutual agreed decision. We are just too different for it to work.”

Marcus considered her for a moment. “What do you mean different?”

“He’s not a muggle, if that is what you are thinking. But there’d be little acceptance from our family. And I suppose from his, if it would come down to it.” Holly said, biting her lip. She’d probably had said too much already. People always thought that Marcus Flint was just brute force and no brain, but he could be very sharp when he wanted to. Which granted, was mostly in Quidditch related matters, but still. And judging by the pale expression on his face, he had twigged on to something.

“I think it’s best if you don’t tell me anything else about this, Holly. At least not here.” Marcus took a look around, trying to see whether anyone could have been listening. “And maybe dance with Barnaby Lee or someone. Just to show everyone where your loyalties are.” 

Holly took a sharp breath in. “Has anyone questioned my loyalties?” 

“No. Of course not. But with nobody carrying the mark in our family, people are quick to draw wrong conclusions.” He took another look around. “And I don’t know where you have been, but what if someone saw you with this person? Doesn’t sound like he’d be the guy you’d want to be seen with.”

Holly sighed but she agreed with her cousin. Nobody would have seen her, but his words had reinforced the need for her to do everything she could to protect her family. And day dreaming about Charlie Weasley was the opposite of just that. So with that in mind, she walked up to Barnaby Lee and to his delight, asked him for a dance. 

~|~

Holly wrapped her long coat tighter around her. The wind was biting and the snow had melted to some sort of mush on the pavement. There were not a lot of people in Diagon Alley and Holly quietly cursed her father for making her go to Knockturn Alley for him. Borgin and Burkes had send her father an owl about something that would apparently be of great interest to him, but Holly knew that it was just a ruse to get him to come to the shop. Borgin had wanted to speak to him about the new regulations regarding trading with the Americas for ages as her father would be able to relay his concerns to her uncle. And her father knew that so he had sent her instead. Holly was not looking forward to the tepid welcome her showing up would cause. Borgin would never be rude to her, but Holly preferred the January slush over smalltalk with the shop owner. 

Holly walked past Madam Malkin’s and almost slipped on a patch of black ice. Strong arms grabbed her from behind and steadied her. Holly turned around and looked into the face of one Charlie Weasley. 

“I - erm, hello.” The red-haired wizard said, looking as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. 

Holly looked around, but there was no one. The cold wind had driven everyone inside. “What are you doing here?” She hissed. Her skin was still tingling where Charlie had touched her. 

“Mum has send me to get some strengthening solution ingredients and I saw you walking by. I just thought- well it doesn’t matter.” He said, obviously put off by the expression on her face. 

Holly sighed. A gaggle of witches was exiting Madam Malkin’s and was staring at the two of them. She pulled her coat tighter and her scarf closer to her face. Maybe they wouldn’t recognise her. “Follow me.” She said and walked towards Flourish and Blotts, not checking whether Charlie was actually following her. Once inside, she walked straight to the back of the shop and walked down between two particularly fully packed rows of books. Finally she turned around and Charlie had indeed followed her. 

“It’d be dangerous if anyone were to see us talking.” Holly said, purposely not saying for whom it’d be dangerous. 

“Of course. But I didn’t really want to talk with you.” Charlie said, looking put out. 

“Why did you follow me then?” Holly demanded to know, immediately annoyed with Charlie’s comment. And hurt by it.

“I thought you might for once tell me something that’d keep my family safe.” He did not meet her eyes.

“What do you mean? I tell Dumbledore everything I hear. Nobody ever-“ Holly swallowed, “There was never anything about your family. I’d tell you. What happened?” 

Charlie looked up. “My dad got attacked just before Christmas.” He still looked angry. “I just thought the whole point of having spies was to actually gain information to prevent things like that.” 

“Is he okay?” Charlie nodded and Holly breathed a sigh of relief. Mr Weasley had been nothing but nice to her and she was glad to hear that he was alright. “Charlie, I am very sorry that your father has been attacked. But I am not in the position where I get told his plans. I sometimes stumble upon them by chance and if I had known of any attack on your family I’d have told Dumbledore.” She reached out to touch him, but then dropped her hand again. “Please, believe me.” Holly hated herself sounding like this but for some reason it was extremely important to her in this moment that Charlie knew that she’d never withhold information when it came to the safety of his family. 

Charlie sighed audibly and finally looked her in the eyes. “I know. I’m sorry, it’s just been scary because he almost died. And I was already angry at you, so that just added to it.” He looked at her feet again. 

“Why are you angry at me?” Holly asked, her voice just slightly more than a whisper. She had a pretty good idea why he’d be angry but still wanted to hear it coming from him. 

“Because you just left. You just left as if it never happened.” Charlie said, still talking to her feet. “Or worse, as if it didn’t matter to you.” 

Holly felt a strange mixture of happiness and pain in her chest. Happiness because it quite obviously had mattered to Charlie and pain for what she was about to say next. “Charlie, I’m sorry that you may have put meaning into something that was just a spur of the moment kind of thing. I was bored and it was a strange situation. You must be able to recognise it for that.” She said, trying to keep her voice levelled. Her cousin’s words were echoing in her head. She was not prepared to place her infatuation with this boy above protecting her family. 

Charlie did not say anything for what felt like a very long time. Just as Holly was about to leave, he looked up at her. Holly opened her mouth to say something but then Charlie had her pushed against the bookshelf behind her and pressed his lips against hers. Without meaning to she melted against his body and reciprocated his kiss. But before she could deepen the kiss even further Charlie broke away from her. He looked at her intently.

“Don’t lie, Burr.” He said eventually and then turned around and left Holly leaning against the bookshelf, now for support. Shit, Holly thought and sank to the floor. 

~|~

Holly smiled at the dark haired wizard opposite her. Barnaby Lee ruffled his hair and for a brief moment Holly was reminded of a certain red haired wizard doing the exact same thing when he was feeling awkward. Ever since their running into each other in Diagon Alley almost two months ago now Holly’s thoughts kept returning to Charlie Weasley. She’d spent the remainder of January hidden away in her dad’s manor until her cousin had told her about this really bizarre story he had heard of her and a Weasley walking into Flourish and Blotts together. This had shook Holly to the bone, and she may have not been able to dismiss Charlie from her mind, but she needed to make sure that nobody would question her loyalties. And this was where Barnaby Lee came into play. She’d visited him at the beginning of February and they’d been going out since. Currently they were sitting in the gardens of the Lee’s stately home in Somerset. 

“So, don’t you want to know where I’ve been last night?” The dark haired wizard asked cheerily. 

Holly actually did not want to know. She’d been glad to see the back of him, it had become more and more difficult to find excuses as to why she did not want to sleep with him. So any night he’d be awol, she’d be safe. 

“Do tell.” She said, putting on her best vapid voice. 

Barnaby grinned and instead of answering her, he rolled up his left sleeve. Even before she looked Holly knew what she would see. So the dark lord’s rows had been filled up again. She wondered who else had received the dark mark last night. Holly leaned over and lightly kissed his lips, not sure how else to reply. He pulled her closer but Holly broke up the kiss before he could deepen it.   
Barnaby did not notice anything, he was too pleased with his elevation into the dark lord’s ranks. 

“There were only five of us. I think he may have gotten more selective again.” 

Holly tried not to flinch. Everyone knew of Marius Mills receiving the dark mark last month and committing suicide just a week later. It had made the pureblood families nervous. 

“Anyone else I know?” Holly asked, as nonchalantly as she could manage. 

“Don’t think so. There was that Connolly kid that was in your cousin’s year?” 

Barnaby was checking out his mark, oblivious to the shocked expression on Holly’s face. Please don’t say Marcus’s name next, she thought. It’d be something Barnaby would do, building up the tension before springing it on her. 

“He’s quite young still, but oh well. We’ll see how he does.” 

Holly breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have said that if Marcus had gotten the mark. 

“He’s asked about you.” Barnaby said suddenly, now looking at Holly’s face to gauge her reaction. 

Holly felt like a block of ice had been dropped into her stomach. But her face wouldn’t show that, she was well practised in masking her emotions. 

“Yes?” 

“Well, he’s asked about the Burr and Flint family. He knows that your uncle lets many illegal imports slide and that your dad has provided him with a number of dark artefacts. But he wants a more concrete commitment from your family.” Barnaby’s gaze did not leave her face once, eager to see any sort of emotion. 

Holly swallowed. She knew that her father and her cousin would never forgive her for her next words. 

“I am ready to give him any commitment he needs.” 

Holly was surprised with how steady her voice was and even Barnaby seemed almost shocked. But then he grinned. 

“I knew it.” He kept beaming at her. “There have been these stupid whispers about your family growing soft and trying to get out of their obligations to the pureblooded wizarding community. And then that stupid rumour about you consorting with a Weasley.” Barnaby’s voice dripped with disgust when he said Weasley. “But I knew that you had it in you.” 

Holly just smiled. The icy feeling had now reached the rest of her body. She felt numb. 

“Well, I am happy I spoke to your father again yesterday.” 

Holly’s eyes widened slightly. “You spoke to him about the dark mark?”

Barnaby laughed. “No, don’t be silly.” He cleared his throat. “I spoke to him about this.” 

Barnaby reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jewellery box. He put it on the table in front of Holly. Holly reached for it, her hand now shaking. Barnaby laughed again. 

“Don’t be nervous, I’m sure you’ll like it.”

With still shaking hands she opened the jewellery box. There was a diamond ring inside. It looked like a family heirloom and was probably priceless. Barnaby grabbed the jewellery box. He unceremoniously stuck the ring on her finger. Then he pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply. 

“Well and there is one more thing we have to do, my dear fiancée. Grab hold of my arm.” 

Holly was so shellshocked by what was happening that she did as she was told. Barnaby held three fingers against the dark mark on his arm. They disapparated. 

Chapter 7

Charlie looked out of the window of his old room at the burrow. There had been a thunderstorm earlier and rain was still coming down in buckets. He’d had to give up his room at the order for other members who were staying there during their various missions and so he had slept in what was now the twin’s room for the past week or so. His mum was preparing dinner in the kitchen and his dad was still at work. Charlie felt quite useless. He’d originally planned to go back to Romania after Christmas but after his dad’s attack he did not want to leave his family whilst you know who was still out there. Dumbledore was not quite sure yet how to use him so he’d been mainly running errands for his mum. Although his mum had not been happy when he returned without the ingredients for the strengthening solution back in January. He’d had to go back the very next day and as much as he looked, he had not run into Holly again. Charlie was completely at loss when it came to her. When they were pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend back in August he could have sworn that Holly had started to like him. But then she had been so cold towards him after what happened in the cellar - thinking of that still made Charlie blush - and seemed almost happy to be able to leave. Charlie had given her a whole month to get in touch before he told everyone that they’d broken up. He had thought of writing her himself but was worried that it’d endanger her mission. Everyone was sympathetic and Charlie was surprised when Ginny wrote him from Hogwarts, demanding to know how he had messed it up. 

When he ran into Holly in Diagon Alley he had been really angry. Somehow he had gotten it in his head that surely Holly would know all of you know who’s plans but did not think his family important enough to warn them about the impending attack. He knew it wasn’t fair but he couldn’t help how he felt. And then when he actually heard her talk and how sorry she was to hear his dad had been attacked all his anger had evaporated and all he wanted was to kiss her again. Holly was an accomplished liar but he had not believed her one bit when she said that nothing that had happened during the summer mattered to her. And when he did eventually kiss her, it only confirmed it. But still she didn’t write to him or tried to contact him through the order. And Charlie did not know how he should get in touch with her. He had even asked Dumbledore the last time he saw him, how Holly was doing and Dumbledore had only told him that she send him regular updates but that he hadn’t seen her for a while. And now it had been another two months since he had last seen her. 

There was a flash of lightning and Charlie froze. For a moment he thought he’d seen someone in the garden. Thinking that maybe whatever had attacked his dad had come back to finish the job, Charlie grabbed his wand and hurried down the stairs. He cast an impervious charm on himself and the rain pearled of his robes. He could hardly see more than two feet in front of him but he felt like there was someone else in the garden. 

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” He shouted into the rain. Charlie waited and was just about to cast another charm that would alert him to the presence of other humans around him, when a soaked through Holly appeared in front of him. She was wearing a light blue summer dress and sandals. Her arms were wrapped around her waist and her hair was hanging down her face. Her wand hang limply from her right hand. 

“Holly, what are you doing here? Are you okay?” 

He lowered his wand. Holly just shook her head. Charlie put his arm around her shoulder and gently lead her towards the house. His mum was still pottering about so Charlie managed to lead Holly up the stairs without her noticing. He opened the door to his old room, put Holly down on one of the two twin beds and quickly grabbed a big towel from the upstairs bathroom. Charlie threw it over Holly and waited for the young witch to speak. Holly looked up at him. Charlie thought she looked broken.

“It’s happened.” She said quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper. 

Charlie looked at her confused. Before he could ask for clarification she showed him her left arm. Charlie’s eyes widened when he saw the dark mark, still red around the edges. She must have gotten it just hours ago. And then he saw the engagement ring on her finger and Charlie felt something break inside him. He knew that the dark mark was so much worse but the diamond ring seemed to top even that. Holly was still staring at him, obviously willing him to say something, anything. Charlie knelt down in front of her and gently grabbed her left hand with both of his. 

“We should go to Dumbledore. He’ll be able to do something.” He said, the desperation clearly carrying in his voice. 

“There is nothing to do about it.” Holly whispered. 

Charlie grabbed her hand harder, the ring harshly pressing against the palm of his hand. He lifted it and kissed her fingers, before pressing them against his forehead. He heard Holly sob. Charlie had never seen her this emotional and it made him almost feel ashamed watching her cry. He sat down next to her and wrapped her in his arms. Holly pressed herself against him and cried even harder. After a while her sobs became quieter. 

“I didn’t have a choice.” She said eventually and for a second Charlie didn’t know whether she was talking about the dark mark or the ring on her finger. He didn’t dare address the latter. How long had she been engaged for? he thought. And why hadn’t he heard about it? Surely a family like hers would be announcing it in the golden prophet or something. Unless there hadn’t been time yet. 

“How did it happen?” He asked eventually and Holly told him about her dating Barnaby Lee and him giving her the ring today. And taking her straight to you know who after for the mark. She explained how you know who was keen to bind all the old pureblood families to him and how it’d would have been her dad or cousin if she hadn’t agreed to do it. From what he could tell, Holly was not pleased about the engagement either. Charlie scolded himself internally, he should not be happy about that when Holly had just been brandished with the dark mark. 

“So you’ve been seeing Barnaby Lee?” He said after Holly had finished, not being able to stop himself from asking. 

Holly looked up at him, her eyes still filled with tears. For a second he thought she’d shout at him but then she said “Some people saw us talking in Diagon Alley. I was worried, so I started seeing him because it would stop any rumours. But I have only kissed him.” 

Holly obviously knew what he had not dared to ask straight out. Charlie did not say anything, worried he might stop her from saying something he so desperately wanted to hear. 

“Charlie, ever since staying at the order in the summer and being with you, I cannot stop thinking about it. However hard I try, your face just keeps popping up in my head.” She sniffed. “And I have been trying very hard. Because it’s selfish. And because it would put everyone that I love in danger. It would put you in danger.” 

Charlie didn’t dare to move or breathe, his mind racing with the implications of her words. 

“But when the dark lord put his mark on me today, all that kept me from going insane was the thought of you.” Holly had stopped crying, a resolute expression on her face. Clearly she had every intention to get it all out before she could change her mind. “So I had to come and see you. Because Charlie I-“ 

Before Holly could finish, his mum burst into the room. Charlie was glad for his hands to still be holding onto Holly or he’d have cursed his own mother. 

“Dinner is- oh, Holly!” His mum looked back and forth between him and Holly, not quite sure what to make of the odd situation. “I didn’t hear you arrive? Is everything okay?” 

By the state Holly was in, it was quite obvious that everything was far from okay, but Charlie did not say that. In fact, he decided not to say anything until he’d trust himself enough for his first utterance not to be a curse against his mother. 

“I’m sorry, Mrs Weasley, for showing up like that. I’ll be going straight away.” Holly said, her voice much steadier, but devoid of all its prior emotion. Charlie noticed that Holly had pulled the towel around her again, and sat in a way that would hide her left arm. His mum hadn’t notice the dark mark yet, or she’d be crying. 

“Oh don’t be silly, love! It’s only Arthur, Charlie and I for dinner tonight but I’ve made plenty of food. Please stay for dinner.” Not giving Holly the chance to decline, his mum smiled at them one last time before going back downstairs where Charlie could hear her talking to his dad. 

“I can’t stay, Charlie. Can I disapparate from your room?” Holly said, her voice raw again. 

“You can, because I have you invited you in. But I don’t think you should. You’re definitely better at apparating than I am, but it can still be dangerous if you are upset.” He stood up abruptly. “Please stay for dinner.” He added. 

For a moment Charlie thought she’d just disapparate anyway but then Holly nodded. She stood up and Charlie averted his gaze as he only now noticed how see-through her dress was because of the rain. He heard Holly mutter a spell to dry her clothes. Charlie went to the wardrobe, which was filled with a mixture of his and the twins clothes (which were mostly his old clothes anyway) and grabbed a jumper. He almost laughed when he saw it was the maroon jumper with a big C on that Holly thought she’d ruined when she was still suffering from the exsanguine spell. Charlie passed her the jumper and Holly smiled, obviously also remembering it. She put on the jumper and rolled up the sleeves, but only to her wrists. Her hair had dried and Holly used her wand to magic it into a messy bun. She put her wand on his bedside table when Charlie caught her looking at the engagement ring on her finger. After a moment she took it off and put it next to her wand. Charlie quickly looked away when she turned around so she wouldn’t feel awkward. They left his room to go to dinner. 

~|~

Charlie could not believe how quickly Holly had been able to change her mood for dinner. As soon as they had entered the dining room Holly had been all smiley and greeted his dad heartily. There was no sign of her having cried just moments before in his room. It was almost scary. Now they were drinking cups of tea and his dad was telling them all about the strange enchanted muggle objects that had recently found their way into his office. 

“And I still don’t know why anyone would want to enchant a hair brush to heat up, but what do I know.” His dad laughed and smiled at Holly. “So, Holly, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” 

His mum froze and elbowed his dad in the side. Charlie held his breath. He had no idea what to say to rescue Holly from having to answer. 

“I was just in the area and thought to drop in. Your wife looked after me so well last summer and I never properly said thank you.” Holly said with a smile at his mum.

Charlie was impressed with how quickly Holly answered but no one, especially not a witch of her status, was ever just in their area. Luckily his dad had realised his mistake and was not prodding further. 

“But I better get going now. Thank you very much for dinner!” Holly said to his mum. 

Charlie stood up when she did. Holly said goodbye to his parents and they walked to the door of the burrow. 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Charlie asked, wanting to say so much more. Holly nodded. “Oh, your wand and erm, your things.” He added, remembering what she had put on his bedside table. 

He started to walk up the stairs and heard her following him quietly. They arrived in his old bedroom, Holly staring at the ring on his bedside table but not making any move to pick it up.   
Then she turned around to face him, and Charlie thought she had put on a different kind of mask now. There was a resolute look on her face, but apart from that he couldn’t tell how she was feeling at all. 

“About what I said earlier. It was just all so fresh. I didn’t mean it that way.” Holly said with a steady voice. 

“Bullshit.” Charlie was pleased that this had caused at least some sort of reaction to show on her face. “You do not get to come here, spring all that on me, tell me that you are in love with me and then take it back again.” 

Holly flinched when he said love. Charlie wasn’t completely sure that that was what she was going to say before his mum had burst into his room, but he said it anyway. He walked up to her and took her face into his hands to force her to look at him. 

“Listen, Holly. I work with dragons, my life is dangerous anyway. Loving a death eater spy is not going to make it that much more dangerous.” He kissed her forehead lightly. “None of us are safe nowadays. And while I don’t knowingly want to put you, your family or mine into any more danger, I also don’t want to not have you around.” 

Charlie could almost see Holly’s face crack and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. “But what about my engagement?” She whispered.

“I don’t think he’s actually asked you outright judging by what you have told me. So I won’t accept it.” Holly opened her mouth, but before she could bring up any more arguments, Charlie spoke “I know it’s selfish. I know it’s not a good idea. But who knows how long we have they way things are going now. I do not want to spend that time without you. Even if it means just stolen hours here and there. It’ll be enough for now.” 

Charlie kissed her and then they were on the small single bed, clinging to each other as if scared the other would disappear if they’d let go.

~|~

When Charlie woke up his first thought went to Holly. And his second to his back which was slightly cramped up from sleeping in a small bed that was never meant for two people. He looked at Holly who was sleeping peacefully next to him and for a moment he felt the happiest he’d ever been. He wanted nothing more than for Holly to sleep next to him for the rest of his life. Holly stirred and he kissed her lips slightly. She smiled at him before opening her eyes.

“Good morning.” Charlie said and kissed her again. 

“Morning.” Holly mumbled and buried her head in the pillow. Charlie looked at the clock. It was only six in the morning but he could hear his mother pottering about in the kitchen. It was still dark outside. 

“I can’t believe I stayed over. My father will be worried.” Holly mumbled against her pillow. 

“It’ll be fine. I’m sure your cousin will cover for you.”Charlie said and pulled her even closer to him. 

“It was still a stupid thing to do.” Holly said, now mumbling against his chest. She sat up and Charlie tried not to stare at her nude body too much. When he looked up at her face and saw her grinning at him, he knew he’d done a bad job. Holly did not seem to mind. 

“How can I get in touch with you?” Charlie said, he’s face turning pink. 

Holly considered him for a moment. “We can use Wanda, my house elf, to send messages. She belongs to me and not my family so it’d be the safest way.”

Charlie did not like her claiming ownership over another living being, but did not say anything.   
“What about..?” He asked eventually, nodding towards his bedside table where Holly’s engagement ring still lay. Although he tried, his thoughts kept turning to her kissing Barnaby Lee. 

“I don’t know. I can’t call it off, my father would be devastated. And it would seriously harm our reputation as well as my mission for Dumbledore.” Holly did not look at the ring, but at his face instead. 

“But you won’t…?” Charlie added, not wanting to ask her outright but still needing to know. 

“I won’t. I can’t. The only person I want to sleep with is you.” At this, Charlie felt himself blush again. “It’s not uncommon for witches of my standing to wait until marriage. He’ll be annoyed but he won’t dare do anything about it.” She bend down towards him and Charlie kissed her. 

“Stay for breakfast?” He asked against her lips. Holly pulled back, looking uncomfortable. 

“Your parents thought I’d left last night. Wouldn’t it be erm awkward?” She said, and Charlie was pleased to see her blushing for a change. 

“Maybe. But I don’t want you to leave yet. They’ll be fine about it.” 

Actually Charlie wasn’t sure whether they would be but he had been honest. If Holly left now, he might not see her again for ages. He’d never actually considered how his parents would feel about it. They’d been very warm towards Holly and he was fairly sure that his mum especially liked her. But his mum was also very protective of her family and him being with Holly would definitely make her nervous. The two of them got dressed slowly, grabbed their wands and Charlie lead her down to the kitchen. 

The chatter between his parents stopped abruptly when Holly and Charlie entered the kitchen. She was wearing his jumper again. 

“Oh, hello Holly! Popped in again, have you?” His dad said eventually. 

“Arthur!” His mother hissed at her husband. 

Charlie felt uncomfortable. Maybe this had been a bad idea. He looked at Holly and she looked just as uncomfortable as he felt. He took her hand and after they’d said good morning, he lead her to the table to sit down. 

“I have made toast and tea, my dears. Would you like some?” His mum fussed over them. Charlie was sure he could hear a certain strain in her voice. 

“That’d be lovely, thank you, Mrs Weasley.” Holly said, sounding nervous. Charlie nodded as well. 

His dad sat down opposite them and pretended to read the daily prophet. It was upside down, but neither of them said anything about it, happy to evade one pair of eyes. 

“Mum, do you know when Dumbledore will be at the headquarters next?” Charlie asked, whilst munching on a slice of toast his mother had put down on a plate in front of him. He was still not ready to give up on the idea that Dumbledore would be somehow able to rid Holly of her dark mark. 

“I don’t, my dear. He’ll be at Hogwarts though if you need to speak to him.” His mum said, and poured them all a cup of tea. 

They ate breakfast in silence until there was a knock at the door. His mum and dad looked at each other questioningly, clearly not expecting any visitors. Holly tensed up next to him and Charlie grabbed her hand under the table. His mum grabbed her wand and went to open the door. There was hushed talking in the hallway and then his mum entered the kitchen again with a furious looking Snape in tow. Holly pulled her hand out of his, but Charlie thought it was a futile gesture. 

“Miss Burr. I need you to come with me immediately.” Snape said, his voice barely containing the anger the potions professor radiated. Holly had turned deathly pale. 

“Of course. Thank you for breakfast.” She said, and followed Snape out in the garden where they disapparated with a faint pop. 

“Oh, Charlie.” His mum said worryingly. He didn’t look at her, busying his hands with the piece of toast that was now mainly crumbs. 

“I can’t say I am pleased with this, but you obviously like her.” His mum continued. “And it was my doing after all, making you pretend to be in a relationship.” 

“Mum. It’s not your fault.” Charlie said, but still not looking at her. 

“Charlie, under different circumstances I’d never get involved, but you must realise that this is an utterly silly idea, don’t you?” His dad now chimed in. 

“I know it is. She knows it is.” Charlie let go of his toast and finally looked at his parents. Their faces were strained with concern. “But I am not going to stop loving her. I can’t.” He abruptly stood up to leave. Charlie heard his parents call after him but he ignored them and went up to his room. Holly’s ring was still on his bedside table. He picked it up carefully. It must be worth more than his home, he thought. Although still agitated about his parents words, Charlie sank back onto his bed smiling at the thought of Holly willing to risk it all for him. 

Chapter 8

Holly had not seen Snape this furious for a while. They were facing each other in the shabby sitting room of his home in Spinner’s end after Snape had grabbed her arm in the burrow’s garden to disapparate. When they arrived Wormtail had been sitting on the small sofa but after one look at Snape’s face he had squeaked and disappeared into a different room. Her former potions teacher cast a charm on them and all the outside noises suddenly sounded muffled. 

“What in Merlin’s name were you thinking?” Snape snapped at her. Holly flinched. The potions professor was still clutching his wand and now pointing it towards her. She saw Snape draw a long breath with his eyes closed before he lowered his wand. 

“I only went around to visit. There’s nothing more to it.” Holly said trying to keep her voice calm. 

“Your cousin came to see me at Hogwarts last night when he wasn’t able to get hold of you. He said that you were with Mr Lee in the early afternoon but Mr Lee came to your father’s house in the evening and you weren’t there. So your father asked Mr Flint to look for you.” Snape turned around to sit down on a worn out looking armchair. He didn’t ask her to sit so Holly remained standing where she was. 

“Does Barnaby know?” Was all she could say. Holly could not believe how stupid she had been going to see Charlie and, even worse, spending the night there. 

“Mr Lee believes that you were at Hogwarts to see me. I sent him an owl last night.” Snape regarded her for a moment. “So does your father. Your cousin however is very keen to talk to you.” 

Holly bit her lip. She’d have to come clean to Marcus. 

“Show me your left arm, Miss Burr.” Snape now said. Holly protectively held it close to her. For a moment she thought to refuse, but there was no point. She slowly rolled up the left sleeve of Charlie’s jumper. Snape stared at the dark mark. 

“I had no choice. Barnaby told me that he wanted somebody from our family. I couldn’t let my father or my cousin get it.” Holly said defensively. 

“We need to practise your occlumency. You know too much about the order. I will let Dumbledore know that you won’t be able to spy for him any longer.” Snape said matter of factly. Holly could not help but feeling disappointed that he was not upset about her being brandished with the mark. 

“I can still spy for him.” She interjected. 

“You can not. You will not do anything that will risk your discovery. I shall also speak to the dark lord about using you to infiltrate the ministry. That should be one of the less dangerous tasks you could be given. You will be doing the exact same thing as for the order but for the other side. Of course you will tell me everything you find out first so I can decide what will go further and what must be kept hidden from the dark lord.” Snape waved his wand and a pot of tea and two cups hovered towards them. He motioned for her to sit and Holly sat down on the shabby sofa behind her. “And now for your silly crush on Mr Weasley.” 

Holly grabbed the cup that, now filled to the brim with some sort of herbal tea, was hovering in front of her. “It is not silly.” Holly said in a quiet voice, knowing there was no point anymore to try and play it down. 

“Of course it is. You know that.” Snape took a sip from his cup. “And shouldn’t you be wearing a ring?” He added with a poignant look at her left hand. 

Holly inhaled sharply. She had left her ring on Charlie’s bedside table. Snape watched her carefully.

“I suggest you retrieve it as soon as possible. I imagine Mr Lee will want to speak to you after you disappeared on him yesterday.”

“I will send Wanda.” Holly said, not looking forward to seeing Barnaby at all. She stared into her cup of tea and then back at Snape. “I don’t know what to do.” She said softly, not sure what had caused her to ask Snape out of all people for advice. 

“Incorrect, Miss Burr. You know exactly what to do. You are just too afraid to.” 

Holly looked up at Snape and for a brief moment she thought that he knew exactly how she felt. 

~\~

Holly apparated into her uncle’s foyer. Marcus was there, sitting on the bottom of the stairs. At first he looked relieved but his expression quickly turned angry.

“Where the bloody hell have you been?!” He said, walking up to her. Before Holly could answer, Wanda appeared with a quiet pop. The small elf bowed in the direction of her cousin and then turned to her, holding her hand stretched out towards Holly. Wanda opened her hand and the diamond ring Barnaby had given her lay inside of it. Holly had sent her house elf for it before departing from Spinner’s end. There was no note from Charlie, so she had gotten it without bumping into the red haired wizard. Holly grabbed the ring and put it on her finger. With another bow the elf disappeared again. Marcus had watched the short exchange with an open mouth.

“What in Merlin’s name is going on.” He demanded to know.

“Not here. Let’s go to your room.” 

Holly and Marcus went upstairs and once in Marcus’ room, Holly sat down on the small sofa. Marcus sat in the armchair across from her. Holly had to smile when she was reminded of her conversation with Snape just moments earlier. 

“Marcus, I need to tell you something that you mustn’t tell anyone else.” Holly said pleadingly. She knew it was stupid to burden Marcus with all of this, but she needed to share it with someone she actually cared about. Holly was not worried about anyone reading Marcus’ mind, her younger cousin was actually very accomplished at not shielding it but at putting so much superfluous Quidditch information in the reader’s way that whoever wanted to extract information from him soon gave up. 

“You can tell me anything.” Marcus said, looking like he was brazing himself for the worst. So Holly told him everything, starting with her failed attempt to get information out of McNeagan and ending with the conversation she’d had with Snape. She did not specify which information she got for Dumbledore and kept her description of the order to a minimum. Holly also only glanced over how involved she actually had gotten with Charlie but the look on her cousin’s face told her that he had interpreted it correctly. When she was done, neither of them spoke for a while. 

“Show it to me.” Marcus said eventually. 

Holly rolled up her sleeve and presented the dark mark to him. 

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.” 

“I am going to kill him. First he’s basically giving you the shitest proposal ever and then he gets you marked.” Marcus voice was dripping with rage.

“You are not going to do anything. You will keep your head down as you have been already and we’ll get through this somehow.” Holly said resolutely. “If anything happens to me, you will get our family out of the country. Do you hear me, Marcus?” 

Her cousin stopped staring at the mark and returned her gaze. “Yes. But it will never get to that.” Marcus leaned back and crossed his arms. Holly rolled the sleeve back down, realising that she was wearing Charlie’s jumper still and that she’d need to swap it for one of Marcus’. It would take another couple of days until the mark would pale again, only to show up when she was summoned or when she’d need to contact the dark lord. Her cousin’s gaze had now wandered to the big C on the jumper she was wearing. 

“What are you going to do about the Weasley?” He said, not sounding pleased. 

“Nothing. I told you what Snape said. It can’t go on. It was a stupid idea from start to finish.” 

Marcus snorted. “Holly. You can say all you want now, but you have not seen the look on your face every time you mentioned his name.” Holly felt herself blush. “So staying away from him is not going to work is it? I mean, it hasn’t worked so far, has it.” 

“It’s not about what happened in the past. It’s just that it’ll be very difficult for me now to get away.”

Marcus looked at her for a good long while. “Okay. Well, I can cover for you. Just send me a message with Wanda.” 

Holly could not believe her ears. “Really? But why?”

“Because you are family.”

~|~

Her cousin turned out to be true to his word. Over the next five months Holly was able to meet up with Charlie at least once a week. Sometimes they met at her family’s house when she knew for nobody to be there. Or they went to muggle places out in the country. They even went to Romania once and Charlie showed her the dragons he had been working with before he had decided to move back to be with his family. Holly could see in his eyes how much he missed his work and she hoped for nothing more than the dark lord to fall again so Charlie could go back to doing what he loved so much. 

These first five months were bliss even though they had to be secretive. Holly talked Charlie into not confiding in his family. The fewer people knew about them, the better. So it was only her cousin and Charlie’s older brother Bill, who often covered for him, that knew. 

And they were happy together, but then something happened when they had breakfast at Bill’s flat in Shoreditch. Bill and Fleur were in France at the time, visiting Fleur’s extended family, and Charlie had been in such a good mood that they would be able to be together for a whole two weeks. Holly enjoyed it too, it was almost like they were living a normal life together. She had told her family that she’d be in Italy, visiting a friend and Charlie told his he’d be in Romania. They didn’t leave the guest bedroom for the first two days. But then, a week into their blissful stay together, the daily prophet arrived. Holly was preparing breakfast in the kitchen and Charlie started reading it whilst drinking his coffee. It amused Holly, how he would comment on the articles while reading them. Some interesting swear words to remember, she thought, when Charlie read about new appointments in the ministry of magic. She already knew who they were. Just a week ago, the dark lord had boasted about all the witches and wizards who had now either turned over to their side or had been put under the imperious curse. All of these new appointments were more of the dark lord’s followers being put into strategic places. But then Charlie had suddenly gone quiet. 

“Charlie?” Holly asked gently, hoping that there hadn’t been another mysterious disappearance or death of one of Charlie’s friends. Charlie did not react. He was staring intently at an article in the social section of the paper. Holly froze. She knew what he had come across even before seeing the picture of her and Barnaby. With all the excitement of them being able to stay at Bill’s flat, she had completely forgotten to tell him about that. 

“You have set a date?” Charlie said eventually, his voice as cold as ice. 

“Yes. I tried to find excuses, but I couldn’t hold it off any longer.” Holly could not look at Charlie’s face. 

“And when were you going to tell me? Or did you think it wasn’t important for me to know?” Charlie shut the paper, his hands were visibly shaking.

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I should have told you straight away.” Holly stepped towards him, but Charlie stood up abruptly and turned away from her. 

“A halloween wedding? How fitting for a couple of death eaters.” Charlie said, his voice still so cold. 

Holly felt herself tearing up. She did not even know what to say. Charlie had every right to be angry with her. She felt angry with herself. The last five months had been so good, but she should have realised that it couldn’t have lasted. They’d both been stupid to think so.

“I thought I’d be able to not let it bother me.” Charlie said, “But I can’t bear the thought of him touching you. For him to have what I want.”

Charlie turned back to face her, his expression hurt. 

“I don’t want him to touch me either.” Holly said, her voice quiet, terrified to say the wrong thing. 

“But it’s going to happen.” 

“Maybe not. I will find a way.” Holly said resolutely. There must be a way, she thought. 

“Don’t lie to yourself, Holly. I suppose we both knew that this was going to happen eventually.” 

Charlie did not meet her eyes when he said that. Holly thought she could physically feel her heart break. She willed Charlie to not say what he was clearly just about to but dared not to speak. 

“Maybe it’s best if we stop this now. There is no point continuing.” Charlie flicked his wand and a moment later his rucksack hovered towards him. Charlie grabbed it. “Goodbye, Holly.” Before Holly could stop him, Charlie disapparated. 

~|~

Holly was shaking. She hoped Barnaby would not notice. It was way past midnight and they were in his home in Windsor. Their home, Holly thought. It had started raining outside and Holly felt the weather was befitting this night perfectly. Barnaby loosened another button of her wedding dress. 

“You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this.” Barnaby said, breathing against her neck. 

Holly did not say anything. She had been trying her best to not let anyone see how she really felt. The ceremony had been grand and dark. Holly had not known half the people there. All the way through the ceremony and the wedding blessing Holly had felt like she was watching someone else getting married. Surely it was not her, walking down the great hall of her father’s manor in a pearl white lace wedding dress. The whole night had gone by in a blur, everyone who spoke to her put her detachedness down to nerves, only her cousin Marcus was watching her with worried eyes. And now she was in Barnaby’s - no their - bedroom. She felt her dress fall to the floor. Her heart was beating so hard, Holly thought that surely he could feel it. 

“You are so beautiful.” Barnaby whispered and kissed her neck and down to her shoulders. 

Holly did not turn around. Every single time his lips touched her it felt like poison on her skin. She felt just like that time when she received the dark mark. There was an air of danger around the situation and whatever happened next would change her life for the worse. Back then it was the thought of Charlie that had kept her sane. Now she tried her hardest not to think of him. She did not know what she would do if she thought too much. They hadn’t spoken since that one morning back in August. Holly had send messages with Wanda but they had all come back unread. And after what he knew to happen tonight, he’d never speak to her again. 

“Look at me.” Barnaby said. Holly eventually turned around, trying her hardest to not look scared. His gaze slowly went down her body and Holly willed her hands to be still. There was something in his eyes that she did not like one bit. He kissed her and Holly hesitantly reciprocated the kiss. Barnaby undressed himself, picked her up and put her down on the bed. He kissed her forehead, her collarbone and the top of her breast. Holly had never felt so unsafe. 

“Take it off.” Barnaby said against her chest. Holly sat up, opened her bra and took it off. Barnaby stared at her for a long while. 

“Could I maybe have something to drink?” She said eventually, her voice hoarse from not speaking for so long. 

Barnaby first looked at her as if she had said something in another language but then he got up to walk to the bottle of champagne that had been placed on a trolley by the window. Holly’s eyes followed him for a while. Then, whilst he was busy opening the bottle, she looked around the room. She’d never been here before, it was dark but beautiful. And so pristine. Holly hated it. She longed to be with Charlie and his family, whose home was messy but felt like a real home. Was this really her life now? How would she ever be able to stop thinking about Charlie? How long would it take her to stop loving him? 

And then, when Barnaby had finally managed to open the bottle and was now filling one of the glasses, her eyes fell on her wand that she’d carelessly dropped on a futon by the dresser. Slowly she got up, trying her hardest not to make any noise. Barnaby had moved on to filling the other glass. She snuck towards her wand, not breathing until she had it clutched in her right hand. Barnaby had just turned to the bed, a glass of champagne in each hand. Holly pointed it at the back of his head. 

“Imperius!” She shouted.   
For a moment nothing happened. Holly still daren’t move or breath. She’d never used one of the unforgivable curses before. If she had done it wrong, her life would be over. “Turn around?” She said eventually, waving her wand at Barnaby. And he did. 

“Put down the glasses and then go to sleep. When you wake up, have breakfast and then go read something in the library until I get back.” Barnaby’s eyes glazed over briefly but then he did exactly what she had said. Holly had no idea whether these instructions had been a bit too specific, she’d only ever watched other death eaters use the imperius curse and their instructions usually were much briefer. 

When Barnaby was in bed, Holly grabbed her bra and wedding dress and put them on quickly. She had no other clothes at his - no, their house - yet, so they’d have to do. “Wanda.” She said sharply. A faint crack notified her of the appearance of her house elf. “Find out where Charlie is.” The house elf nodded and bowed before disappearing again. Holly used the time to down both glasses of champagne. Her heart was beating faster than ever before. What had she done? What would Charlie think of her now? Wanda appeared again. “He’s at the one place I can not speak of.” 

Holly put down the glass of champagne and disapparated. 

Chapter 9

Charlie woke at the sound of the big door of the headquarters banging shut. He wondered who’d arrived this late, it must have been almost 2 am. He himself had only gone to bed about an hour ago. There had been a meeting of some members of the order tonight. Now that Sirius had been killed, they had been discussing alternative places to use at the headquarters of the order. Nobody had wanted to admit it, but the place seemed even scarier without Harry’s godfather. The discussion had gone way into the night and he, his brother Bill, Remus, and Tonks had decided to stay the night. And he was glad that the meeting had been held tonight. It kept his thoughts away from a place that they wanted to go to so badly, but where only pain was waiting for him. 

Charlie was just about to grab his flask of firewhiskey for another sip to help him sleep, when he heard someone (Remus?) call his name from downstairs. With a grunt he got up and walked down the stairs. When he got to the entrance hall he was almost convinced that he must be dreaming. Tonks was standing in the middle of the entrance hall, her wand stretched out in front of her, her mouth open. Remus was standing closer to him, slightly to the left. His wand was not out. And by the door stood Holly. Her dark hair was hanging in tangles down her face, which looked paler than he’d ever seen it. There were dark shadows under her eyes, set off even more by the red lipstick she was wearing. And she was in a wedding dress. 

“Holly?” He said gently. Charlie thought she looked mad. Had she been cursed? Remus flinched once, obviously not having heard him come down the stairs. Tonks was looking at him, her wand still pointed at Holly. Charlie thought that she must think for Holly to be under some sort of spell as well. 

Slowly he walked towards Holly, his hands up where Holly could see them. When he had reached her, he carefully put his hands on her shoulder. “Holly?” He said again. Holly met his eyes and burst into tears. Charlie pulled her towards him and she was now sobbing against his chest. “It’s okay.” He said, holding her tight. 

“Will you be alright, Charlie?” Remus said behind him. Charlie just nodded and he could hear him and Tonks move back towards the kitchen. Charlie carefully picked Holly up and carried her to his room upstairs where he sat her on the small single bed. 

“Holly?” Charlie tried again. And finally Holly reacted and looked at him, mascara running down her face and her lipstick smeared. “Did he hurt you?” Charlie asked.

“No.” Holly bit her lip. “We were in his bedroom. After, you know, the wedding.” 

Charlie swallowed. He was not prepared for this. He did not want to hear about this. He wanted Holly to leave again, but also to never let her go. 

“I could not do it. And I don’t know whether you even want me still. “ Holly wiped her eyes, smearing her make up even more. 

“Holly, there’s nothing in this world I want more than you.” Charlie said, and it was the truth. “But what happens now? He’ll know you disappeared on him again. On your wedding night.” 

“He won’t. Before anything could happen, I…” 

Charlie’s eyes widened. Had she done something to him? Surely she hadn’t killed him? 

“I put him under the imperius curse.” 

Charlie involuntarily moved back from her. “You did what?”

“I had to! I could not bear him touching me.” Holly had a mad gleam in her eyes. Charlie tried not to show it, but he was almost scared of her. “It will be okay, won’t it? In a way, it’s perfect. I will just keep him under. Then we can be together.” 

She looked up at him, her eyes hopeful but also full of fear. Charlie needed a moment to digest all this. How could she be so indifferent about the thought of having put another human being under the imperius curse? Because Charlie knew that all her tears were her being afraid of his reaction. There was not one bit of guilt that she felt for casting the unforgivable curse. 

“We’ll figure it out.” He said eventually, pulling Holly closer. He did not want her to see the worry in his eyes. 

~|~

Charlie woke up to Holly standing by the window and staring into nothing. The wedding dress was nowhere to be seen and she was back to wearing jeans and a dark green jumper. This was how he liked her best. Just looking like a normal girl and not the pureblood death eater. 

“Holly?” He said softly, not sure what state she would be in this morning after all that had happened yesterday. 

Holly turned to face him and she still looked pale but much calmer than last night.

“Good morning.” 

Charlie sat up and Holly came to sit down next to him on the small bed. 

“Do you want to go downstairs for breakfast?” Charlie said, not really sure what else to say. There was a distance between them that he hadn’t felt before. Maybe doing something normal like having breakfast would help bring them back closer again. 

“I don’t know, Charlie. It’s probably best if I go without seeing any of the others.” Holly looked down at her feet. “Especially after last night.”

Charlie grabbed her hands. They were ice cold.

“What are we going to do, Holly? I did mean what I said back in Bill’s flat. Us being together is a stupid idea.” Charlie held her hands tighter when she was trying to pull them away. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I love you.”

“I love you too. And that is why I did what I did.” Holly looked up at him, determination on her face. “I will find a better way to deal with Barnaby.” 

Charlie kissed her gently. He did not want to think about what she meant. Because even if he would never admit it, deep down he wanted her to do whatever it took so that they could be together. And he hated himself for it. 

~|~

After Holly had disapparated, Charlie got dressed and made his way down to breakfast. He hoped that the others had left already and he could just be by himself for a while. But when he entered the kitchen, Bill, Remus and Tonks were deep in conversation over cups of tea. He said morning, grabbed a couple of pieces of toast and sat down. 

“What happened?” Tonks asked. Remus and Bill were suddenly very busy with their cups of tea. 

Charlie sighed but told them about how Holly had spent her wedding night. 

“She used the imperius curse?” Remus said and Charlie did not like the look on his face one bit. It looked too much like how he had felt last night. 

“She didn’t know what else to do.” Charlie said defensively. 

“How do you feel about all that? I thought you hadn’t been seeing her since last summer?” Tonks kept prodding. 

Charlie exchanged a brief look with Bill. 

“Well, that’s not exactly right. We’ve been together until August but last night was the first time I have seen her since then.” Charlie plucked his piece of toast into little crumbs. He did not look up but could feel the looks his friends exchanged over his head. 

“And what is going to happen now?” Bill said, speaking for the first time. 

“I don’t know. I can’t not see her. We’ll just have to be careful.” Charlie said, still not looking up. “Maybe it’ll work out in the end.”

~|~

Charlie and Bill entered the ministry of magic through the visitor entrance on Fenchurch Street. Bill needed to drop off some papers from Gringotts and had more or less forced Charlie to come with him. Charlie had reluctantly agreed, it was not like he had anything else to do apart from sitting around and waiting to hear from Holly who had only sent him a quick message via her house elf to say that she was okay but needed to sort things out before she’d be able to see him. 

It was the first Monday after Halloween and not very busy. Charlie and Bill had their wands checked and a visitor’s badge attached to their jumpers before waiting for the elevator to get to the goblin liaison office on the fourth level. 

Suddenly even the few conversations around them started to die down and the ministry workers parted to let a tall, darkly dressed wizard and a beautiful witch through. The wizard did not deem anyone around them worthy enough to look at and had his gaze fixed on a point just above Charlie’s head. The witch however stared at him with her lips slightly apart. Her dark hair was artfully braided and she was wearing long black robes that made her skin look even paler. Several wizards looked at her appreciatively. But she only had eyes for Charlie. 

“Is that Holly?” Bill whispered next to him. “She looks so different, like she’s dressing up as somebody else.” 

“She does not look different. That’s how she always looks.” Charlie said to his brother, but not able to stop looking at Holly. “When she’s with us, that’s when she’s dressing up like somebody else.” 

With a ping the elevator doors behind them opened and Charlie and Bill entered. For a moment Holly seemed to hesitate but then her and Barnaby followed them in. Bill pressed for level four and Holly for level three. 

“Holly, my love, what time does your uncle expect us?” Barnaby said into the silence of the elevator. 

“In a few minutes, Barnaby.” Holly said, her voice void of any emotion. 

Charlie and Bill looked at each other, both feeling very uncomfortable with the situation. They reached level three, but before the couple got off, Holly turned around to the brothers. 

“Your father’s friends may be interested in visiting a certain shop in Knockturn Alley. Some of my friends have been browsing there a lot lately.” 

The elevator snapped shut and started moving again instantly to take him and Bill further down to the goblin liaison office. 

“What is she playing at?” Bill asked his brother.

“Well, obviously the order should be investigating what death eaters are looking for at Borgin and Burkes.” 

“Not that. I got that. But have you looked in Lee’s eyes? He’s quite obviously under the imperius curse. I thought you said she was going to sort it out?”

Charlie suddenly felt very cold. “I didn’t notice it. Maybe you’re just more sensitive towards it with being a curse breaker?” 

“Well how long do you think it’ll take you know who to work out that one of his death eaters is under the imperius curse?” 

The elevator pinged and Charlie and Bill stepped out onto the fourth floor of the ministry of magic. It was slightly busier down here and Charlie hoped that Holly wouldn’t run into too many people on her way to her uncle’s office. Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Bill asked.

“They weren’t going to her uncle’s office. He’s on the fifth level, where the international magical trading standard’s offices are. They got off on the third level.” 

“So?” Bill looked confused at what Charlie was trying to get at.

“Well, Lee thought that’s where they were going. So Holly is up to something. What could she want on the third level? What’s there?” Charlie made to walk back to the elevators to read the sign. But Bill grabbed the sleeve of his jumper.

“It’s the department of magical accidents. The obliviator headquarters are there.” 

Charlie’s eyes widened. 

“She’s going to do something stupid. I’ve got to stop her.” Charlie rushed back to the elevators. Bill joined him. “No, you go to the goblin’s office. It’ll be easier for me to go unnoticed if I’m by myself.”   
Bill looked reluctant but then turned back around and made his way towards the offices. 

Charlie entered the elevator. Luckily nobody else was in it and he pushed the button for the third level. Once he got there, the floor was absolutely deserted. Charlie took his wand out of his pocket and walked towards the signposted obliviators’ office. He entered the third door down the left and grew even more concerned when the help desk was empty. It was eerily quiet and he could hear voices coming from the first door after the help desk. He snuck up to it and emptied his pockets for one of the twin’s extendable ears. Charlie let it unroll under the door and put the other end in his ear. 

“And why would obliviate not work?” He heard Holly’s voice asking. 

“Well, Miss Burr, I’m sorry, I mean Mrs Lee, the obliviate charm would just not do. You see, that one only erases certain memories. It cannot falsify or modify somebody’s memories. But, and we are speaking purely theoretical, there is charm that can plant a false memory into someone’s mind. But it’s dark magic. I myself do not know the incantation.” A squeaky voice answered her. 

“But there is a spell.” Holly sounded relieved. “And, still purely theoretical, how would one go about finding this spell?” 

“Miss Burr, I don’t think you should look for it. I apologise, Mrs Lee, I mean. Implanting a false memory into somebody’s mind, and especially doing it over a longer period of time, will drive that person insane if it is not done perfectly. Imagine not doing it properly just once. That person will realise that this one memory is not theirs and they will start to question everything. They will not trust their own mind anymore. It would drive them mad.” The wizard Holly was talking to sounded terrified. “Imagine playing with someone’s sanity like that.” 

“It is only theoretical, Mr Swanson. No need to worry.” Her voice was trying to sound calm and reassuring, but Charlie thought she sounded eager. Too eager. “And are you sure, you have never heard the incantation? Never seen it written down somewhere?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Lee. I have not. It’s forbidden.” The wizard, Mr Swanson, swallowed audibly.

“Very well. How is your family? All well, I hope?” Charlie shivered at the sound of her voice. He, just like surely Mr Swanson as well, had heard the implications of that question. 

“Yes, thank you for asking, Mrs Lee.” There was the sound of paper rustling. “I just remembered. You might want to look into this further.” Charlie heard Holly fold a piece of paper and the noise of her putting it into her purse. 

“I appreciate this, Mr Swanson. I will not forget your help in this matter.” More rustling. “I better be going now. Barnaby, get up.” 

Charlie quickly rolled the extendable ear back up. With three big steps he was out of the office and at the elevator. He was not sure whether he was breathing hard from hurrying out of there or from what he had just heard. 

~|~

Charlie took a look around the darkly furnished living room. It was so immaculately clean that he subconsciously tucked in his shirt, aware that he was the most untidy thing this room had ever seen. 

“I don’t think I should be here.” He said eventually. 

“Don’t be silly, Charlie. It’s my house as well. And Barnaby is not here, he’s at work.” Holly sounded nervous. 

Charlie had not told her about what he had overheard at the ministry. It had been a week since they had run into each other there and this was the first time they’d seen each other since. He was desperate to hear about it from Holly without having to ask but he also did not want it to spoil them being able to spend time together. When Holly had sent a message with her house elf earlier this morning Charlie had not been sure at all whether he should come to her and Barnaby’s home in Windsor. Although the wizard was not here, Charlie could almost feel his dark presence. 

“Right. What were you doing at the ministry last week anyway? I have passed on your message to my father by the way.” Charlie tried his best to sound nonchalantly. 

“Good.” Holly gestured for him to sit down on the sofa with her. “We were just visiting my uncle. There is a trade deal with Latvia that my uncle wants Barnaby to be in charge of.” 

Charlie sighed. Why could she not be honest with him? “And he’ll be able to do that whilst under the imperius curse?”

Holly regarded him for a moment. “He is not under the imperius curse anymore.”

“What did you do to him, Holly?” Charlie tried his best not to sound too agitated. “I followed you to the obliviators’ offices. I heard what you were talking about with that wizard Swanson.”

The colour drained from Holly’s face and she stood up quickly. “I told you I was going to sort it out. So I did.”  
“What did you do, Holly? Did you find the spell?” Charlie brazed himself for her answer.

“Yes, I did find the spell. Swanson gave me the name of the book I would find it in. And Snape managed to find a copy for me.” Holly sat back down and looked at him pleadingly. “You understand why I had to do it, don’t you?”

Charlie sighed again. Of course he understood. And he was not so much disgusted with her for doing it but with himself, for seeing the necessity of it. 

“I do.” He said eventually, almost whispering it. He pulled Holly closer, suddenly feeling the need to touch her, to remind himself why they were doing all of this. 

~|~

Charlie returned to the headquarters in the late afternoon and was surprised to see his former potions professor sitting by himself in the kitchen. Snape looked awful. He was even paler than usual, his greasy hair looking even greasier. There was a large glass with an amber liquid in front of him. When Charlie got closer he could smell the firewhiskey not just in the glass but also coming off the Slytherin head of house. 

“Sit down, Weasley.” Snape said, without looking at him. Charlie was not sure how he had known it was him. “Your mind is an open book.” Snape added and with a flick of his wand, conjured another glass. Charlie grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey off the kitchen side and sat down opposite Snape. 

“Are you feeling it yet?” Snape said, his voice heavy but still clear. 

“Feeling what?” Charlie asked. He’d never seen Snape like this. 

Snape filled Charlie’s glass as well as topping up his own. “The disgust. The disgust of loving someone who is so dark and twisted.” 

“I don’t know what you mean.” Charlie took a sip from his drink, appreciating the burn following the liquid down his throat. 

“Oh you know what I mean.” Snape now sounded almost cheerful. “And you don’t even know half of what she’s done yet.”

“I know everything. She told me about the imperius curse and the memory charm. And Holly has only done that so we can be together.” Charlie could feel himself getting angry. What was Snape playing at?

Now Snape laughed outright. Charlie had never heard him laugh. It was a horrible, joyless sound. 

“You know nothing, Weasley. The curse and the spell are only the tip of the iceberg.” Snape drained his glass of firewhiskey. “You don’t know what he makes all of us do. What he has made her do. It would freeze your blood if you’d know. Dark things, Weasley. Terrifying things. “ Snape considered him for a moment. ”Miss Burr has always been a keen and quick learner. Do you know that she was top of the year when she graduated Hogwarts?”

Charlie just shook his head. He had no memory of her at Hogwarts. 

“Oh yes, Weasley, she is a very gifted witch. And he knows that. And he has taught her spells that even I would hesitate to attempt.” Snape filled up his glass again. “Did you know that there was a spell that can turn the skin inside out?” He took another sip, while Charlie could do nothing but stare at the professor. “It’s a difficult spell. You really have to mean it for it to work.” Again, Snape drained the rest of his glass. “But obviously you and Miss Burr do not talk about these things when you are busy playing house. Busy pretending that the world is not falling apart around you. Because you are selfish and stupid.” Abruptly Snape stood up. “And you must be blind, Weasley. Blind to not see her for what she really is. Miss Burr is dark and twisted. And this silly obsession you two have with each other is going to get you both killed.” 

Snape gave him one last look filled with hate before leaving the kitchen. Charlie sat still for a very long time. 

Chapter 10

Holly did not know how much longer she’d be able to lie to herself. Something had gone wrong between her and Charlie. Ever since that one time Charlie had come to see her at the house in Windsor things had been left unsaid between them. Of course Holly knew that he was shocked by what she had done to Barnaby. But he had seen the necessity of it. And then when they had seen each other again later on that week he had been so detached. They hadn’t spoken much but he had made love to her with an intensity that bordered on desperation. And that was how it had been for the past six months or so. Holly had no idea how she could get things back to how they used to be. Maybe it was too late. 

“After you.” A darkly dressed wizard said to her.

Holly stepped into the house, Dolohov and Greyback following closely behind. It was a small, shabby house on the outskirts of London. Holly could not understand how a ministry official could live like that. She pulled her robes tighter, the death eater’s mask hiding her face. Dolohov was also wearing one, but Greyback did not care whether he’d be recognised or not. Holly tried her best not to accidentally end up too close to the werewolf. She did not care for how he looked at her. 

“Why are we bothering with a morsel like him?” Greyback growled somewhere to the left of her. 

“He is close to the minister. He will know his schedule.” Dolohov picked up a picture from a side table. 

Holly froze when she recognised the people in the picture. “Who is it again?” She asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. The dark lord had only summoned her half an hour ago and told her to go with Dolohov and Greyback. He did not think it necessary for her to know where they were going or why. 

“That Weasley boy. Percy, I think.” Dolohov said and carelessly dropped the picture. 

“And we are just to get the minister’s schedule off him?” Holly probed further. Surely that must just be laying around somewhere. There wouldn’t be any need to hurt the boy. 

“Yeah. Like Greyback said, he’s not important enough to put under the imperius curse. But we need to know who the minister is meeting with. Those people are who we need to control.” 

Dolohov made his way up the stairs, closely followed by Greyback. Holly braced herself and went upstairs as well. The three death eaters entered Percy Weasley’s bedroom. The young wizard was fast asleep next to a pretty witch. 

“Crucio!” Dolohov shouted and the wizard started screaming. The witch next to him jumped up and Greyback grabbed her tightly. 

“Who is the minister meeting with?” Dolohov asked once Percy Weasley had stopped screaming. Holly could hear the young witch sobbing quietly. 

“I don’t know.” Percy said, his voice shaking with fear and pain. 

“Maybe this will jog your memory.” Dolohov nodded at Holly and without hesitation Holly pointed her wand at the witch in Greyback’s arms. Greyback let go off her but before the witch could move away Holly shouted “Sanguefor!” The young witch screamed and blood started dripping out of her nose, mouth and ears. 

Percy’s eyes widened and he made a move towards his wand. Dolohov punched him before he could get anywhere close. 

“Okay, okay! I will tell you, but please stop hurting her!” Percy shouted. 

Dolohov nodded at Holly again and Holly stopped the hex with a flick of her wand. They young witch dropped to the floor unconscious. 

In the meantime, Percy had started to write down names on a piece of parchment. Dolohov kept a steady eye on him. 

“She looks rather tasty.” Greyback remarked, his eyes on the young witch on the floor. 

“We are not to leave a trace.” Dolohov said sharply, but not taking his eyes of Percy who was still writing furiously, but his hand was shaking so much, Holly wondered whether they’d be able to read anything at all. 

Greyback had moved closer to the young witch. Holly raised her wand at him. “Leave her be, Greyback.” She said, surprised by how steady her voice sounded. 

Greyback turned towards her. “Oh yes, little bird? And what will you do if I won’t?” Holly waved her wand and Greyback was thrown into the wardrobe behind him. Instantly the werewolf was up again and rushed towards her, but Holly had expected this. “Stupefy!” Holly shouted and Greyback collapsed. 

“Stop it!” Dolohov shouted, turning towards Holly and Greyback. Percy took his chance and dived for his wand. But before he could reach it, Holly pointed her wand at him and shouted “Crucio!” Percy screamed and crumbled to the floor. 

Dolohov looked around the room. “What a shit show.” He grabbed the piece of parchment. “Clean up this mess.” Dolohov disapparated with the stupefied Greyback. 

Holly took a deep breath. Percy was still whimpering on the floor. Holly kneeled down next to the witch and pointed her wand at the younger witch’s forehead and whispered “Memoria mutata”. She did the same to Percy Weasley and the two of them laid back down on their bed with a dazed look on their faces. Holly cleared up the blood from the witch’s face and healed the bruise where Dolohov had punched Percy. She repaired the wardrobe with a flick of her wand. Then she disapparated. 

~|~

“Things have started to turn so much darker.” Charlie said quietly. 

Holly pressed herself closer to him. They were in her house in Windsor. 

“They have.” Holly whispered back.

The past few months had gone by in a blur. Charlie had been back in Romania for the majority of the time, only coming back once for Dumbledore’s funeral back in June. Holly had seen him only briefly then and they only argued. Charlie had at first not believed her that she hadn’t known about the plan to kill Dumbledore. And she truly hadn’t. Yes, she knew that the dark lord was planning for it to happen eventually but nobody had known about the Malfoy boy but his innermost circle which Holly was not part of. Even though it didn’t really feel resolved, Holly was glad when he left again as it had fallen to her to hide Snape for the first few weeks after he had killed Dumbledore. And now it was almost the end of July and Charlie had returned for his brother’s wedding. 

“Bill getting married is something to break through the darkness at least.” Charlie looked at her and Holly knew straight away what was coming. “You should come too. I want you to be there.”

Holly kissed his forehead lightly. “You know that’s not possible.” 

Charlie frowned. “I know. Well, but Potter will be there. He’s going to use a polyjuice potion to look like a distant cousin of ours. You could do the same?” 

“So you’d want me there looking like your cousin?” Holly smiled at him blushing. Oh, how she had missed that. Just them being together and being happy. 

“Maybe not.” Charlie grinned and kissed her fiercely. 

Holly hoped he’d give up on trying to get her to come to the wedding. It was the day the dark lord had planned on taking over the ministry. She had debated a million times with herself whether or not to tell Charlie about it. In the end she decided that he would be safer being at the wedding than part of some suicide mission to try and safe the ministry. In truth, the ministry had fallen months ago. Everyone around Scrimgeour was either under the imperius curse or a death eater. And the first of August had been marked as the day that the dark lord would officially take over the ministry. 

“Have you ever thought of leaving the country?” Holly said when they parted for air. 

“Leave the country?” Charlie placed little kisses down her neck. It tickled.

“Yes. Like my family. They’ve been with relatives in Italy since Christmas.” 

Charlie stopped kissing her. “Leave the country with you?”

“Yes. We could stay with my family. Wait for all of this to be over.” Holly did not dare look at him. 

“I can’t leave my family. And I want to fight. I want to help win this war so we can be together after.” Charlie said fiercely. “And you should fight too. If your family is safe, why don’t you join our side?”

Holly lowered her eyes. “I don’t think your side trusts me very much. After…after Snape.”

Charlie pulled her close again. “I trust you. And I know that you are working against him.” He kissed the top of her head. “And Snape is a vile traitor. I don’t know why I believed a word he said about you.”

Holly froze. “What do you mean?”

“Well, at the beginning of November, I ran into him at the order. He was drunk. Anyway, he told me that you’d been learning some dark spells from you know who himself. And that you were using them in his name.” Charlie kissed her forehead again. “That’s why things were different for a while. And then after Dumbledore’s death I was so angry and confused. But I thought about it. Snape was lying. He just did it to sow mistrust.” 

Holly swallowed. For a moment she considered telling Charlie the truth. But she knew that it would break him. Using the cruciatus curse on his younger brother was nothing against the long list of things she had done since. And apart from leaving the country she did not know how to protect him. And even if she left, who was to say that they would not hunt her down and make her spill the truth about the order, where her family was and, worst of all, her love for Charlie. 

“But I know it’s not true. Because I know you, Holly. I know and love every last bit of you. And when this is over, I want us to be together.” Charlie pulled away from her and got out from the bed. He rummaged through his clothes and when he came back he was holding something carefully in his hand. Holly sat up, suddenly struggling to breathe properly. “Holly, will you marry me?” He grabbed her left hand and looked at her questioningly. Holly had never felt such a mixture of pain and happiness. She was glad that she never bothered to wear Barnaby’s ring when she wasn’t leaving the house and nodded. Charlie grinned at her and slid a modest ring with a small diamond on her finger. Holly thought it was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen. Charlie kissed her and for at least tonight Holly allowed herself to dream of a future in which they could be together. 

~|~

Holly rushed after the darkly dressed witches and wizards in front of her. Her wand was stretched out in front of her, stupefying aurors and ministry workers alike. The dark lord was way ahead of her, killing anyone who dared to stand in his way. She could hear Bellatrix Lestrange’s mad cackling laughter echoing and mixing with the curses that were cast all around her. Only a few death eaters chose to stun, most, like the dark lord, killed. Holly flinched when she heard a blood curdling scream and Greyback howling in triumph shortly after. She dared to look back and her eyes were met with chaos. Witches and wizards were screaming and running, trampling over their own in their mad dash to safety. 

When she turned back to the front she almost fell trying to stop herself from bumping into another death eater. The death eater had stopped and was pointing his wand at a terrified looking witch. Holly recognised him instantly by the light blonde hair peaking out from underneath his hood. 

“Stupefy!” Lucius Malfoy growled. The wand, a much more slender one than Holly would have expected, shot off some sparks but nothing more happened. The ministry worker, who could not believe her luck, quickly raised her wand, but before she could say anything, Holly yelled “Stupefy!” and the witch collapsed. 

Lucius Malfoy turned towards her and swore. “Holly Burr, is it?” He looked at his wand frustratedly, before pocketing it. Holly nodded. She didn’t know how he had recognised her, but did not let it bother her. “It’s my wife’s wand.” He said almost sheepishly. Now Holly remembered Snape saying that the dark lord had taken Malfoy’s wand for an attack on Potter. Holly did not know why, nor did she care. She was more confused as to why Lucius Malfoy was going for the stunning spell also. 

“I thought you’d be right at the front with him?” She asked instead.

Malfoy regarded her for a moment. “Well you may have heard that my family has slightly fallen from grace. I thought I’d better keep to the back, where the chances of me being hit by a stray curse from the dark lord are slightly lower.” 

Suddenly there was a loud bang and the fountain at the bottom of the atrium exploded. She raised her arms to shield her head from the falling debris and then Malfoy was pulling her behind one of the fireplaces lining both walls of the hallway. They sunk to the floor next to each other. 

“I might as well stay here before my wife’s wand backfires and kills me.” Malfoy said matter of factly. 

“It’d only stun you, seeing as you’ve not been using the killing curse.” Holly dared to say.

“So have you Miss Burr. Why don’t we both keep this to ourselves?” 

Holly nodded. She played with her wand. Charlie would be dancing at the wedding now. 

“Oh I forgot. I keep calling you Miss Burr, but you’ve been Mrs Lee for a while now, haven’t you?” Malfoy frowned when he looked at the ring on her finger. “That ring looks different. Much smaller.” The older wizard said.

Holly flinched. She’d forgotten to exchange the ring that Charlie had given her for Barnaby’s. 

“I didn’t want to risk losing my ring.” She said brusquely. 

“Of course. Where is your husband anyway? Shouldn’t he be fighting by your side?”

Holly continued playing with her wand. “He’s further at the front.” It had taken Holly a lot of time to get her and Barnaby to the ministry when the dark lord had summoned them. Lately Barnaby had become more and more irritated and short tempered. Holly had meticulously kept a diary of all the times she had altered his memory and which false memories she had planted in his mind. But with everything that had been going on she couldn’t help but think that she may have made a mistake somewhere along the line and Barnaby was now going insane. 

Suddenly the dark lord’s voice could be heard around them, announcing that the ministry had fallen and that Scrimgeour was dead. Holly and Malfoy hurried to their feet. 

“Right, I better get going. The protective spells around the place where they are keeping the Potter boy hidden will have fallen with the minister’s death. He’ll want to go after the boy straight away.”

With a nod at her, Malfoy briskly walked towards the elevators behind the now destroyed fountain. Holly stood frozen in place. What should she do now? And then she saw Kingsley Shacklebolt ushering a terrified looking group of ministry workers towards one of the last working fireplaces. She rushed towards him, taking off her death eater’s mask as she walked. 

“Kingsley, you must warn the people at the wedding. The protective spells are gone. He will go after Harry Potter now!” Holly shouted panicky. 

For a moment Shacklebolt just stared at her in pure shock but then he produced a silver light with his wand that flew up the fireplace. 

“I have warned them.” He said in his deep voice. “I do not want to think too much about what you are doing here, but I would recommend for you to leave. Now.” The tall auror looked at her intently before following the crowd out through the fireplace. 

~|~

Holly paced up and down the living room of her home in Windsor. She had hardly slept upon returning from the ministry and had send Wanda to look for Charlie straight away. When Holly woke the elf still hadn’t returned. Holly knew what that meant. The Weasley family had gone into hiding and wherever they were had probably had the fidelius charm cast upon it. Wanda would not be able to find them. She would not be able to know what happened at the wedding until Charlie choose to contact her. If he still could. 

Holly flinched when Snape apparated straight into her living room. 

“What is going on? Has he been taken?” Holly asked, desperate to hear any news.

“No. The Potter boy fled. The order is either dead or in hiding.” 

For a moment Holly thought that Snape sounded relieved. He had never shared with her why he had betrayed the order and killed Dumbledore but Holly did not believe that he had gone over to the dark lord’s side completely. He was her last hope that someone could do dark things but still be good inside. And she was not ready to give up on that yet.

“Who is dead?” Holly dreaded the answer, but needed to know.

Snape regarded her for a moment. “Not the Weasley boy. I know you don’t care about any of the others.” 

Holly felt overwhelmed with relief. He was alive. Her Charlie was alive. 

“I need to see him.” She said.

“Are you out of your mind? You need to focus on not getting yourself killed!” Snape snapped at her. 

“I don’t care about myself getting killed. But I need to see him. These past couple of hours of not knowing whether he is dead or alive have been the worst hours of my life. I don’t care about any of this anymore. I just want to be with him.” Holly shouted, all the frustration venting out of her. 

“Holly?” Barnaby asked. He had entered the living room with neither of them noticing. 

Holly did not hesitate for one moment. “Memoria mutata!” she shouted, her wand pointing at Barnaby. Barnaby’s eyes glazed over and he left again. Snape looked at her, almost shocked.

“How often have you been doing that?” He asked sharply.

“I don’t know. However often it’s been necessary.” Holly said defensively. 

“Have you used it since I gave you that book?” Holly nodded. “So you have been manipulating his mind for almost a year now?” Holly nodded again. “You may as well had killed him. He’s well on his way to going insane. If he isn’t already.” 

Holly did not know what to say to that. She felt no guilt at all when it came to Barnaby. She had only done what was necessary. 

“I see.” Snape cleared his throat. “Anyway. You cannot stop now. If you want to keep yourself and that silly boy alive you must continue doing the dark lord’s bidding.”

Holly shut her eyes for a moment. Deep down she knew that Snape was right, that she had to keep going until the dark lord was defeated. 

“But I have not just come here to gossip, Miss Burr. The dark lord himself has selected you to join the department of mystery task force. You and some other gifted wizards are to take the department apart and find out its secrets for him.”

She raised her eyebrows at that. “Why me?”

“Because you have been seen only stunning ministry workers. Everyone who has not killed has been assigned tasks that will most likely get them killed. And if you do find something that’s useful to the dark lord, all the better for him. But make no mistake, your name has been marked. You better try very hard to get back into his good graces.” 

Holly swallowed. She’d been lucky then that nobody had seen her talking to Shacklebolt. Or she’d probably be dead already.

Chapter 11

Charlie thought that there had never been a sadder Christmas. Even that one time when he was stuck on a mountain in Romania and had barely escaped from freezing to death had been more cheerful than this. His whole family had been stuck at aunt Muriel’s place ever since the wedding. Well, not his whole family. Ginny had returned to Hogwarts and was home for Christmas only. Bill mainly stayed at the shell cottage with Fleur and Ron had disappeared with Harry and Hermione when they death eaters attacked after the fall of the ministry. Charlie thought he’d never forget Kingsley’s voice coming out of his patronus and the death eaters swarming down on them just moments after. With every death eater that they fought off, Charlie was worried that surely the next one to be unmasked would be Holly. It was now very clear to him why she’d been so adamant about not coming to the wedding. She must have known all along that she’d be taking part in the attack on the ministry that very night. He did not understand why she had not warned him. Was she too far gone already?

“Charlie, do you want some Christmas pudding?” His mother asked him quietly. 

Charlie could clearly see that his mum had been crying again. He could not remember a time when her eyes had not been red. 

“I’m alright.” He did his best to smile at his mother, but failed. 

“Isn’t that Holly?” Ginny suddenly said from where she was sat in front of the fireplace. 

“What?” Charlie went to sit down next to her. Wordlessly Ginny pointed at a picture in the daily prophet. Ginny had been right, it was Holly. She was standing with a few other wizards in front of the door that lead to the department of mystery. Holly looked like she had that one time Charlie had seen her at the ministry. Dark and beautiful. He quickly read the article underneath the picture.

“So she’s an Unspeakable now. I’m not surprised. She’s obviously kept many secrets from us.” Ginny’s voice was full of anger. Ever since Snape’s betrayal, his family was convinced that Holly had been a double agent as well. His mum had told Ginny how his and Holly’s relationship had been a lie to protect the girl. Charlie had just pretended he didn’t care about Holly anymore and that he hadn’t seen her since that one time when Holly came to see him after having received the dark mark. 

“It’s all death eaters working at the ministry now. Your father and Bill won’t be able to return to work.” His mum said from the armchair where she listlessly started on knitting yet another jumper. “I’m glad we cast the fidelius charm on this and Bill’s place as soon as the ministry fell back in August. None of us are safe now.”

Ginny had tears in her eyes. Ever since Ron, Hermione and Harry had disappeared his sister seemed to have lost all of her cool composure. And Charlie thought that she was more worried about Harry than their brother. 

“I will have to go back to Romania at some point. Not to stay, just to check in with things there.” Charlie quickly added when he saw the shocked expression on his mother’s face.

“Can I come with you? I can’t go back to Hogwarts now.” Ginny asked, her voice sounding very defeated. 

“Absolutely not! You will stay here.” Their mother almost shouted. 

Charlie was almost relieved. He wasn’t really planning on going back to Romania at all, but he needed to speak to Holly. Maybe he could sneak into the ministry. He deserved the truth from her.   
Ginny and their mum started to argue and Charlie thought it best to disappear to the room he shared with the twins. But as he soon as he got there he felt like leaving again. Fred and George were experimenting on some new products for their joke shop and by the looks of it, had already blown up their side of the room. Charlie did not fancy to get blown up next. So he wandered out into the garden and after a moment of hesitation left through the wooden gate for a quick walk around the fields that surrounded his aunt’s house. He had only walked for half a mile or so when he heard a faint popping sound behind him. Charlie had his wand out in no time and turned around to face whoever had just apparated behind him. Charlie exhaled noisily when it was Wanda.

“What are you doing here?” He asked the small house elf.

“Mistress Burr has tasked Wanda to find Mr Weasley. But it has been very difficult. Wanda could not enter the place he was at. Mistress Burr has been furious with Wanda, but it will be okay now.” The house elf said happily. Her clothes looked shabbier than Charlie had ever seen them and he did not like that at all. Before Charlie could say anything else, the house elf had disappeared again. Charlie was not sure what to do now. Surely Wanda would appear with Holly again any moment now. But Charlie had wanted to meet Holly on his terms. He needed to think about what exactly he was going to ask her. He needed time to prepare himself, to tuck his feelings away. And then Wanda was back, with Holly in tow. 

Holly looked ghastly. Her face was pale, her hair unkempt. There were dark shadows under her eyes and with her black robes she bared close resemblance to a dementor. 

“Charlie.” She said eventually, her voice hoarse. 

At the sound of his name coming out of the mouth of the woman he loved so much, something became loose inside him. All he wanted was to hold and kiss her. And so he did. Charlie only stopped when he felt the wetness of her tears against his face.

“Charlie, I am so sorry. I thought that if I’d tell you about the ministry you’d try to stop it and risk your life for nothing. The ministry had fallen months before that, just not officially. And as soon as I heard that he planned an attack on Potter the very same night I told Shacklebolt to warn you and your family.” Holly sobbed. “And then I could not find you.”

Charlie held her even more tightly. “I know. It’s okay, Holly.” He kissed her forehead. “I should have contacted you. I was just confused. It just didn’t look good. And I had to be there for my family, after Ron leaving, mum was in really bad state.” 

He pulled a tissue out of his coat pocket and gave it to Holly, who cleaned her noise and wiped her face. “Ron has left?” She asked.

“Yeah, he went with Harry to…” Charlie stopped himself. He didn’t really know where they had gone, only that Dumbledore had left them something to do. And somehow it didn’t seem to be something he should be sharing with Holly. Holly had of course noticed him not finishing the sentence, but did not push him. It almost felt to Charlie like Holly was allowing him to keep secrets from her. And that could only mean that there were things she did not want Charlie to know about either. 

“I am going to work in the ministry now.” Holly said, trying to change the topic.

“I saw. Department of Mysteries.” 

“Yeah. There are quite a few of us who’ve been put to work there.” Holly played with the tissue in her hand and Charlie was worried about what she was struggling to tell him. 

“But that’s okay, isn’t it? You’ll be safe there. And you won’t be forced to do things you don’t want to do.” Charlie asked eventually when Holly still hadn’t made any effort to say anything more herself. 

“Yeah. Well, kind of. It’s a punishment.” Holly was still not looking at him, still playing with the tissue. “I was only stunning people the night we attacked the ministry. The dark lord was not happy, so he tasked me and some others with finding out as much as we can about the things kept there. He’s hoping we’ll get killed as all of the Unspeakables are either dead or too ill to help us. So we’ll have to work by trial and error.”

Charlie did not know what to say for a moment. “Why isn’t he more direct about it?” He asked eventually. The last thing he wanted was for Holly to be in danger but he hadn’t thought that subtlety was in the dark lord’s repertoire. 

“He can’t kill a bunch of purebloods outright. There are so few of us as it is and it would make everyone even more nervous than they already are.” Holly finally put the tissue away. 

“But you are smart. You will be okay, won’t you?” Charlie could not keep the sense of dread he was feeling out of his voice. He knew that the department of Mysteries, if you did not know what to expect, was one of the most dangerous places in the wizarding world. Everyone knew the story of the intern that had disappeared some years back. 

“Of course I will be. I do not intend to die.” Some of Holly’s usual strength and determination had found itself back in her voice. 

Charlie kissed her again. “You are still wearing the ring.” He said, in a pleased tone. 

Holly smiled. “I have been wearing it ever since you gave it to me. I’ll always wear it.”

“Promise you’ll never take it off.”

“I’ll take it to my grave, I promise.” 

~|~

After Holly had left again, Charlie had walked for another hour, trying to organise his thoughts. Seeing the ring he had given her on Holly’s hand after all that had happened, had given him an idea. When he returned to aunt Muriel’s house he was glad to see his brother Bill having a cup of tea in the kitchen. 

“Where have you been?” Bill asked him as soon as he entered the house.

“Just for a walk. Can’t stand being inside all the time.” Charlie said and made himself a cup of tea. 

“I get it. But you can’t disappear on mum. She was close to organising a search party.” Bill looked as if, in fact, she had not been just close to organising a search party, but as if he was here to be part of said party. 

“I’m sorry. Where is she now?” Charlie added milk and sugar before taking a sip of his tea.

“She’s gone to lie down. I made her a cup of tea with something extra.” Bill pulled a flask out of his pocket and shook it. “She was much calmer then.” 

Charlie grinned at his brother. A shot of firewhiskey always helped. 

“Well, when I was on my walk I bumped into somebody.” Charlie looked around for Ginny and saw her in the garden with the twins. “I’ve been talking to Holly.” 

Bill raised his eyebrows. With a sigh he added some of the amber liquid from his flask to his and Charlie’s tea. “I suppose we’ll need this for whatever comes next. I thought you hadn’t seen her since that time you stayed in my flat?”

“Well, not exactly.” Charlie quickly filled Bill in about everything that had happened, not leaving out anything. When he came to the part of him proposing to Holly, Bill added some more firewhiskey to his tea. After Charlie had finished, neither of the two brothers said anything for a long while. 

“And you’ve decided to tell me all of this because you need me to help you two getting married.” Bill said eventually, and much calmer than Charlie had expected. 

“Yeah.” Charlie grabbed the flask and took a sip straight from it. “I mean, I know that legally she’s married to Barnaby Lee.” He added. 

Bill rested his chin on his hand. “But that’s only legal in the wizard community.”

“Exactly.” Charlie was relieved that his brother seemed so on board with his idea. 

“Do you remember that time we sat at breakfast in Grimmauld place? We spoke about Holly and about how you’d never be accepted as a respectable son in law. You know, I think once this is all over, Alexander Burr would welcome you with open arms. After all, you’ve stood by his daughter all this time. You’ve helped Holly and looked after her.” Bill smiled at him. “I’m still not sure what side she is on, but I am sure that you two love each other.”

Charlie didn’t quite know what to say. Deep down, he wasn’t so sure either which side she really was on, but he did love her. 

“We do. So let’s get this muggle wedding on the road.”

~|~

The holidays were filled with family time so the two brothers did not have a lot of time to talk about their plan. But by the beginning of February things had calmed down. And then it turned out that Bill knew a lot about muggle weddings. He confided in Charlie that when Fleur was so coldly received by their mum, Bill had looked into getting hitched the muggle way. After a quick stint to the muggle council in Exeter and some confundus charms, Bill had organised the necessary papers and then they went to Ifracombe to talk to a priest. They found a lovely church a bit further into the country but where you could still see the sea. It was a small church and the priest was ancient but it would do perfectly. Especially since the priest was happy to marry them the first Saturday in March and did not even want to speak to the bride to be beforehand. Bill thought that maybe the priest thought that him and Charlie were going to get married. Charlie did not really care what the priest thought, he was just happy that it all was going so well.

“You need witnesses.” Bill said and helped himself to another piece of pizza. They were in the now empty flat in Shoreditch. They couldn’t really talk at aunt Muriel’s house and Bill did not want to drag Fleur into it so the Shell Cottage was no good either. 

“Well, I would of course want you to be my best man.” Charlie said, no doubt in his voice. He had been Bill’s best man, so it only made sense. 

“Obviously.” Bill grinned at him, looking very pleased with himself. “But Holly needs someone as well.”

Charlie thought about that. For a short moment he thought that maybe Ginny would do it, but then he remembered how angrily Ginny had spoken about Holly when they had read about her in the daily prophet. There wasn’t really anyone in his family that he could ask. There was Tonks, but she was pregnant and Charlie was not really sure how she felt about Holly after everything. 

“What about her cousin?” Bill asked eventually.

“Marcus Flint? Really? He’s not a girl.” Charlie was not really keen for Flint to be there. 

“It doesn’t have to be a girl. And you said that she cares about him a lot.” 

“I suppose so. Well, I am going to talk to her. She doesn’t really know about all of this yet.” Charlie took another bite of his slice of pizza. “We’ve only been sending messages to each other with Wanda, her house elf. I’d really like to tell her in person, but it’s difficult at the moment.”

“How is she doing?” Bill asked, his voice worried and Charlie really appreciated his brother for it.

“Not too well. She doesn’t really talk about what she’s doing in the department of mysteries but I can tell that she’s afraid.” Charlie played with another slice. “But I’m still glad that she doesn’t have to be out there and do you know who’s bidding.”

“Do you think she ever did?” Bill did not meet his eyes. “Do you think she’s been out there torturing and killing people?”

Charlie put the pizza down. “I don’t know. I’d love to say that I’m sure that she’d never do anything like that. But I think that’d be naive.” 

The two brother finished the rest of the pizza in silence. 

~|~

Charlie eventually was able to meet Holly in the flat in Shoreditch two weeks into February. Holly looked much better and even though she did not tell Charlie anything specific about what she was doing at the ministry, she seemed to be able to cope with it. Charlie had not forgotten Snape telling him about Holly being a keen learner so the department of mysteries would be the perfect place for her to learn new things. When Charlie told her about his idea of getting married the muggle way Holly was unsure at first. She was worried about Bill and Charlie being out in the open for any length of time. But it was obvious that she really wanted to marry him so she agreed in the end. And when Charlie brought up the need for her to have a witness, Holly said she would ask Marcus Flint without hesitation. 

The next couple of weeks went by in a blur. Charlie and Bill went to Exeter again to buy muggle suits and wedding rings. Charlie had some muggle money but it was not enough to get anything fancy so he ended up with two plain golden wedding bands. Bill used a neat little charm to engrave Charlie and Holly’s names as well as the date of the wedding inside the rings. And before Charlie could blink it was the first Saturday in March and he was standing by the altar wearing his muggle suit with Bill beside him. It was a beautiful day outside and the inside of the church was illuminated by the sun shining through the stained glass windows. That was the only decoration they had but Charlie thought it was perfect. Bill had been nervous at his wedding but Charlie just felt completely at peace. He just knew that he was doing the right thing. 

When Holly finally walked down the aisle with Flint by her side, Charlie could not help but to smile at her. She was wearing a long flowing white dress and there were daisies in her hair which was falling in waves down her back. She looked beautiful. The ceremony was short and even though some of what the muggle priest said seemed strange, Charlie thought it was fitting. When he finally got to kiss Holly, Charlie thought he was going to burst with happiness. 

And then it was all over. Flint and Bill had left and he and Holly were at the room they had booked in a small B&B by the sea. Holly was nestled against him and they were watching the flames in the fireplace. 

“I think if anyone would have told me then that I was going to marry that girl drenched in blood at the bottom of the slides I’d have thought them crazy.” Charlie said quietly. 

“So would I.” Holly smiled up at him. “I was so angry that day. At myself mostly, for having gotten myself in that situation. For having to depend on somebody.” 

“Well in hindsight I’m glad that you did.” Charlie kissed her forehead. “Maybe I should send McNeagan a thank you card.”

Holly rolled her eyes, but laughed. “I think I knew I was in trouble when your shocked face at your mother proclaiming us boyfriend and girlfriend offended me.” 

Charlie blushed. “It was just strange. And I was worried that you’d be disgusted.” Charlie stared into the fire. “My mum always told us stories about how people rushed everything the first time you know who was around. Like marrying after having fallen in love only the week before. I always thought that that was stupid. Why would you want to put yourself out there when you didn’t know if you’d survive the night? But now it makes sense. When there is so much hate and violence around, you’d want to do everything to let the light in. And nobody knows how long any of us have, so why waste time? And I think that we’ve waited long enough.” 

He kissed Holly deeply and carried her over to the bed. And for a long while they didn’t speak at all. 

~|~

Charlie woke up to the sound of Holly getting dressed. He sat up and looked at the clock at the bedside table. It was three am. 

“What is happening?” He asked sleepily. 

“I’ve got to go.” Holly rolled up her sleeve and Charlie could see the dark mark burning a deep red. 

“Why is it red?” Charlie thought that it would only appear when the death eaters were called and that it would be black, like it was the first time he saw it on her forearm. 

Holly bit her lip. Charlie could see her debating with herself whether to tell him the truth. 

“He wants something done.” She said eventually. 

“What do you mean?” Charlie got out of the bed and walked up towards Holly, who backed away slightly. “Holly, what does he want you to do?”

“There is someone he wants out of his way.” Holly did not meet his eyes.

“He wants you to kill somebody?” Charlie felt the colour drain from his face. Why was she not more upset by this?

“I don’t know if it is just me he is calling. But yes, someone is going to die tonight.” Holly bent down to tie the laces of her trainers. Then she waved her wand and a black robe appeared out of nothing. In her other hand was a golden mask. 

“Don’t go, Holly. You can hide with my family. Please.” Charlie could not stop staring at the mask in her hand. 

“Your family hates me. And it would put them in even more danger. Fidelius charm or not, the mark has some very dark magic attached to it. I could lead him straight to you.” 

“What if it is someone in my family he wants dead? Or one of my friends? Someone in the order?” Charlie said desperately, trying to convince her to stay. 

“I’m sorry, Charlie.” Holly disapparated and left Charlie to stare at the spot where she had stood just seconds before. 

Chapter 12

Holly briskly walked down the long corridors of the room of prophecies. There was still a lot of broken glass on the floor, it crunched under her feet and those of the wizard following her. It was April and Holly had not seen Charlie since their wedding more than a month ago now. She was still upset that the last thing they had talked about was her having to kill someone and it had been a horrible end to the happiest day of her life. It had been an attack on the muggle prime minister but Holly had not been able to send Charlie a note for ages after as their attack had been unsuccessful and Holly had been punished by the dark lord. Holly thought he would kill her then but luckily for her, all his anger was focused on another death eater who had been in charge of the attack. When Holly finally managed to contact Charlie he had of course already known about the attack. They then planned on meeting at the flat in Shoreditch but Holly felt like she was being followed and so she turned into a side street. She was proven right when Greyback appeared behind her, asking what business she had in muggle London. Holly did not really know what to say so she made up some lie about having heard rumours that Potter had been seen in the area. She then had to spend the rest of the afternoon pretending to look for Potter with Greyback. 

Holly and the wizard had finally made it to the small door leading to the room of death. Holly hated being in there. Nevertheless she opened it resolutely and walked around the seats, trying her best to ignore the voices coming from the gate in the middle of the ancient court. They seemed to get louder every time she entered the room. 

“I’ve read Hogan’s notes on this room. Apparently you can only hear the voices when you are close to death.” The wizard, Puddley, said. 

“Well, all of us working here can hear them. I would be surprised if there is anyone left in the wizarding world who cannot hear them.” Holly said, not slowing down. She did not want to stay in this room any second longer. 

“True.” Puddley hurried to keep up with her. “Where are we going again?”

“To the room of love. Higgins has found a former Unspeakable at St. Mungo’s who is apparently not too far gone to remember.” Holly said and opened the door at the end of the room of death. They stepped into a long dark corridor. 

“And you reckon he’ll know how to open the door?” Puddley said and then cast a quick lumos so they could see where they were going.   
Holly just nodded. Ever since they had started with trying to uncover the secrets at the department of mysteries the room of love had remained locked. Holly knew that the other wizards working with her had tried everything to open the door but to no avail. There were no notes like for the other rooms and so they had started to interrogate the wizards and witches who used to work at the department. Most were insane as a result of all the curses they had been under whilst the dark lord had been preparing the take over of the ministry. But she’d received an owl from Higgins this morning with the good news. 

When Holly and Puddley made it to the end of the corridor, Higgins was already there. A skinny and pale wizard was squatting at his feet, shaking visibly. That must be the Unspeakable. 

“Took you long enough.” Higgins hissed at them, visibly uncomfortable with the insane wizard so close to him. 

“I had to find Puddley first.” Holly said by way of apology. Puddley didn’t say anything but stared at the wizard at their feet who had now started whining. It was a ghastly sound. 

“How do we open the door?” Higgins said, pointing his wand at the wizard. The wizard did not react. 

“He doesn’t look like he’ll be able to tell us. It’s no good.” Puddley said, still not able to take his eyes of him. 

“Have you tried legilimency?” Holly asked, knowing full well that Higgins was a poor legilimens.

“His mind is too broken. Not really sure what would happen if any of us tried to go there.” Higgins answered.

“So what are we going to do? You must have something in mind or you wouldn’t have called us here.” The hair on the back of her neck started to stand up. “Why did you even call us? Both of us are working in the room of time.” 

Higgins gave her a dangerous smile. “Well a little birdie has told me that Severus Snape himself has trained you as a legilimens.” He turned to Puddley. “But I thought before you had a go, Puddley here can be our guinea pig.” 

Holly’s insides turned to ice. She knew exactly why this was happening. Snape did practise legilimency with her but she was not that good at it. So Greyback must have told the dark lord of her suspicious behaviour and the dark lord had decided that she was no longer needed. And what better way than to make her lose her mind by trying to penetrate an insane man’s brain. 

Puddley looked just how Holly felt. Nevertheless he squatted down opposite the skinny wizard. He pointed his wand at the other’s face and shouted “legilimens!”. For a while nothing happened and then they both screamed. Puddley sank back unconscious. Higgins swore and slapped Puddley’s cheek hard. Puddley’s eyes fluttered open.

“And?” Higgins asked. Holly looked down the long corridor behind her. If she made a run for it would she be able to make it out before Higgins hexed her? 

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Puddley whispered, his voice shaky. 

“But you’ve not gone insane. Holly, your turn.” 

Holly sighed but then sank down in front of the skinny wizard. She braced herself and whispered “legilimens” whilst pointing her wand at the other’s forehead. For a moment she saw nothing but darkness. And then the wailing started. Holly pressed her eyes shut and tried to get out but couldn’t. She started moving and something hit her but she did not stop. Holly opened her eyes again and there were hundreds of doors around her. She opened one at random and again, more doors appeared. It was like the department of mysteries was in this wizard’s mind. Holly hurried through door after door until she entered a room that looked much like the room of death. The voices in here were even louder than in the real room of death. 

“Can you hear what they are saying?” A deep voice said behind her. Holly flinched and turned around. It was the skinny wizard, but he looked much healthier here. 

“No.” Holly answered, turning back to the gate. 

“I can. They are calling for me to join them. That’s how I know I will die soon.” The skinny wizard grabbed her arm. “We should not linger. Come.” The two of them left the room of death but Holly could still hear the voices. They walked down the long corridor that Holly knew was leading up to the room of love. 

“How can we get in?” Holly asked when they had arrived at the door.

“They can’t.” The wizard answered. “But you can.” 

“Why?” Holly stared at the door. It seemed much smaller than in reality.

“Only those may enter who know love and who are loved in return. To those, the room does not pose any danger. I have worked there for many years. I can tell that you are in love and are loved.” The wizard smiled. “The wizards with you will not be able to follow you when you walk through the door.”

“What is in there?” Holly felt a pull at the back of her head. “Quickly, tell me. I can’t stay much longer.”

“Nothing of use to Voldemort. He won’t be able to enter the room nor use any of the magic hidden in there.”

Before Holly could ask anything else she felt the pull again and suddenly she was lying on the floor, Higgins’ face close to her.

“I thought you were a goner.” He said coldly. “Did you find anything?” 

Holly sat up. Puddley was standing with his back to the wall, looking terrified. The skinny wizard was flat out. Holly was not sure whether he was alive still. Choosing to ignore Higgins, Holly walked up to the door and pressed down the handle. It clicked once and opened, just like the wizard had said. The room seemed filled with a bright white light and Holly stepped through the door. Angry shouting behind her told her that Higgins and Puddley had not been able to follow. 

First Holly thought the room was empty, but then she saw that the walls were lined with bookshelves. There were various objects placed on stone columns scattered around the room. One held a bow and arrows, another an apple and a third a harp. Holly inspected the objects but did not touch anything. Then she came to a shelf with various vials and bottles. Holly was pretty sure they were all love potions. She was proven right when she read the small labels. She picked one up that said “Amortentia”. Holly of course knew the potion, everyone did. It was the strongest love potion known to wizards. She uncorked the bottle and as soon as it was open the smells of forest, bonfire and a strong cup of tea filled the room. Holly smiled because this was how Charlie smelled to her. She closed the bottle again and put it back on the shelf. Holly stepped away from the shelf and only then did she notice the large mirror at the far end of the room. She walked up to it and when she looked into it, she saw herself with Charlie by her side. There was a small but cozy looking house behind them. A small girl with Charlie’s red hair appeared by her side and a boy with her own dark hair appeared next to Charlie. They all looked happy. 

It took Holly a long time before she was ready to leave the room of love and the mirror. Higgins and Puddley were waiting outside, Higgins looked furious.

“What was that all about? Why were we not able to enter?” He barked at her. They all flinched when the door fell shut with a loud bang. 

“I don’t know. The wizard’s mind was empty, he is dead inside. And the room is useless to us. There is nothing in there but the mirror of erised.” The lie left her lips easily. Holly left the two wizards behind and left. She needed to see Charlie.

~|~

Holly looked at Charlie who was sitting opposite her in Bill’s old flat in Shoreditch. She had just told him that she could not work for the dark lord anymore. 

“I will join my family in Italy. I’ll be safe there. I hope.” She bit her lip. “Can you please reconsider coming with me?” 

“I can’t. I feel like things are coming to an end. One way or the other. I can’t disappear on everyone now.” Charlie stood up and joined her on the small sofa. He scooped her up in his arms. “We’ll be able to be together soon.” He kissed her forehead. 

“I was in the room of love at the department of mysteries.” Holly said against his neck. “It smelled like you.” 

“Did it?” She could feel Charlie smiling against her forehead. “What was that like?”

“Forest.” Holly looked up at him. “A bonfire.” She kissed his chin, his cheeks and the tip of his nose. “A strong cup of tea.” 

Charlie smiled again. “Sometimes I think about what amortentia would smell like for me.” He held her more tightly. “I think you smell like daisies.” 

Holly pressed herself against him. She didn’t think that she would smell like anything so pure. In her head the smell of blood and pain must linger wherever she went. But she wasn’t going to correct him. Holly could not bear the thought of him knowing about the darkness inside of her. 

“They also keep the mirror of erised in there.” Thinking of what she had seen in it scared Holly more than anything else. Because it had given her hope. Hope that maybe Charlie was right, and there was a future for them. 

“What did you see?” He had become perfectly still. 

At first Holly thought it’d be better to lie. She looked up at him and something in his eyes made her tell him the truth instead. 

“Two?” He said and the hopefulness in his voice went straight to Holly’s heart. She nodded. Charlie laughed. “Doesn’t seem enough for a proper Weasley family.” 

Holly let herself get swept up in his laughter and joined in. She didn’t know even know how long it’s been since she last had laughed. 

“I’ll need a couple of weeks to get everything sorted but then I’ll be leaving for Italy at the end of April.” Holly kissed Charlie on the lips. “I’ll send Wanda as soon as I can.”

“It’ll be good to know that you are safe. I have to go back to Romania for a bit but I’m sure I’ll be able to come see you in Italy. If it’s safe?” He kissed her and there was an urgency in his kiss now. 

“It should be.” Holly pulled her jumper over her head and kissed him. And then they didn’t talk for a while. 

Saying goodbye to Charlie was a lot harder than it had been in the past. There seemed to be some sort of finality to it although Holly knew that they’d see each other again in just two weeks. Which was nothing considering that there had been times when they hadn’t seen each other in months. When Charlie eventually disapparated Holly had a strange feeling in her stomach that she just couldn’t seem to shake. She sighed and disapparated. 

~||~

Everything was falling apart. Holly frantically ran down Diagon Alley, Barnaby and some other death eaters in front of her. She was meant to be well on her way to Italy now. She was meant to have sent a message to Charlie. But the dark lord had called them. All of them. He was furious. Holly had never seen him like that. Something had gone very wrong for him. And now Holly was on her way to Gringotts where they could just about make out the tail end of a huge dragon flying off. What on earth was going on? Holly asked herself for what felt the hundredth time. 

She entered the wizarding bank and it was more or less destroyed. There were dead goblins on the floor as well as some security wizards. And then her mark burned and she fell to her knees and so did the other death eaters. When she managed to open her eyes again the dark lord was there, Bellatrix Lestrange by his side. 

“They took it!” He screamed and Holly was in pain again.

“My lord, please, we can’t be sure.” Bellatrix said, and although she looked to be in just as much pain as everyone else, her voice was soothing. 

“Send them.” The dark lord pointed at where Holly was kneeling on the floor, Barnaby beside her. Then he disapparated and the pain subsided somewhat. 

“You!” Bellatrix came up to her and Barnaby. “Take the others and go to my vault. Look for a sword and a golden cup.” The cruel witch looked around. “There are no goblins left alive, but you can probably open the door just as well with a dead one.” She pushed a small key into Holly’s hand and then disapparated as well. 

Holly shakily got to her feet and after a nod towards the other death eaters one of them picked up a dead goblin. Holly lead them to the entrance down to the vault and it was just total destruction. 

“How are we meant to get down there?” One of the death eaters mumbled and Holly did not know how to answer him. Then her gaze fell on several brooms. 

They all grabbed a broom and flew down into the destroyed underbelly of the bank. Holly hated flying but she was even more scared that she wouldn’t be able to deliver Bellatrix a satisfactory answer. There was no point to just lie and say they had looked when they hadn’t. Bellatrix would see straight through them. 

Holly flew at the head of their small party and so she was the first one to be drenched by a waterfall that even now was still pouring down from a place Holly could not make out. Then they were at the bottom and got off their brooms. The death eater who had grabbed the goblin earlier held out his hand towards Holly and she wordlessly handed him the key. He disappeared towards a vault but Holly could see that they wouldn’t need a key. It had been broken open. 

“Holly.” A weak voice said behind her.   
Holly turned around. Barnaby just stood there, drenched like everyone else, but there was a strange expression on his face. Holly froze. For the first time in months he looked like he had before Holly had cast the memory charm on him. He looked sane. He looked like he remembered everything. Holly frantically raised her wand but Barnaby was faster. 

“Expelliarmus!” He shouted and Holly’s wand flew out of her hand and landed somewhere far behind her. 

Barnaby slowly walked up to her. Holly did not dare to move. She did not dare to say a word.

“You.” The dark wizard said, his face now contorted with anger. 

Holly started to shake. The waterfall. It had washed away the enchantments. It had washed away the fake memories in Barnaby’s head. 

“You.” Barnaby said again. There was so much hate and anger in just the one word. He raised his wand at Holly. 

Holly knew that this was it. She was utterly defenceless. There was nothing that she could say or do to stop him from killing her. She heard the other death eaters rummaging and shouting in Bellatrix’s vault. They wouldn’t be of any help to her. 

“Barnaby…” Holly started but stopped herself when his face became even more distorted with anger. 

Barnaby walked up closer to her, his wand still raised. Holly’s eyes filled up with tears. Barnaby shouted at her, the flash of a spell in her eyes. Holly thought of Charlie and the smell of forest, a bonfire and a strong cup of tea filled her nose. And then everything just ended. 

Chapter 13

Charlie arrived at Hogwarts alone and out of breath. Seeing the castle destroyed made him stop short. There was smoke everywhere and you could hear nothing but screams. Death eaters were swarming the place, trying to get away. Charlie knew that he got there too late. He was in Romania when his dad’s head had appeared in the fireplace of the small house he was living in when he was at work. It had taken Charlie way too long to get to Bucharest and get a portkey to London. By the time he’d made it to Hogsmeade the sun was rising already and the feeling of dread in his stomach had gotten almost unbearable. 

He shouted a hex at a death eater who then went down. Where was his family? He frantically looked over the bodies that littered the area. Petrified to see anyone with red hair. There were also a lot of death eaters on the ground. Charlie stopped. A terrifying thought slowly entered his head. Holly hadn’t send him a message like she said she would. He had assumed that she was in Italy already but what if she hadn’t managed to get away? What if her body was among the ones he was now stepping over? 

Charlie’s breath was going quicker and he entered the castle, his wand stuck out in front of him. He knew that you know who must be dead, there was no other reason why his followers would be fleeing if not for their leader having been defeated. It was much calmer inside the castle. When he entered the great hall his first instinct was to turn around again. There were bodies lined up in the middle of the hall. Too many bodies. They were almost all students, their school robes in tatters. 

“Charlie!” Someone was running towards him, but Charlie could not make out who it was. Tears were streaming down his face when he saw the body of one of his brothers on the floor, his family standing around him, their faces just as devastated as he felt. And then Bill was crushing into him and the two brothers held on to each other, crying. 

~||~

The burrow was silent. It did not feel like they had won. Everywhere he looked, Charlie saw only his own pain reflected in his family’s faces. He couldn’t bear to look at George. Even now, two weeks after Fred’s funeral, everyone was wearing black still. Charlie felt empty. And guilty. Because his thoughts were not with his family alone. He still didn’t know where Holly was. He had send an owl to Marcus Flint a week ago now and had not received a reply yet. She hadn’t been listed as dead in the daily prophet but not many death eaters had. And Charlie did not want to believe that she was dead. Because there was no way that he’d survive that. 

“Charlie?” Bill said quietly as he entered the living room. Charlie did not look up. “A letter has arrived for you.” 

Bill sat down next to him. There was a small roll of parchment in his hand. Charlie took it, his hands shaking. He stared at the roll. He didn’t have the strength to open it. It was such a small thing but there was no doubt in Charlie’s mind that whatever was written on it would change his life. One way or the other. He took a deep breath in and slowly unrolled the piece of parchment. Three words. It was only three words. Never had any three words caused him more pain than he felt right now. And still he read them over and over again. Willing them to disappear. To change to anything but what they were.

“What does it say?” His brother said, his voice full of worry. 

Charlie looked up at his brother, tears running down his face. “She never arrived.” He held out the piece of parchment were just that was written. She never arrived. 

“Charlie, I’m so sorry.” Bill pulled him close and hugged his brother. “But we will find her. I promise you.”

~||~ 

Charlie entered the entrance hall of St. Mungo’s. Bill was at his side. His brother had not really left his side since Charlie had received Marcus Flint’s message yesterday. He probably thought that Charlie would do something stupid. 

They walked up to the receptionist and were surprised that there was no queue. But before they could ask the witch about Holly, she pointed to a wall to her right. “Names of the fallen are listed on this wall.” Then she pointed to her left. “Names of everyone currently admitted to the hospital on this wall.” Her voice sounded tired, she’d obviously had to say this a million times since the final battle almost a month ago now. 

“The names of his followers too?” Bill asked and Charlie was glad that he had his brother with him. 

The witch gave them a long questioning look but nodded eventually. “Everyone is listed. There are only a handful of dead and wounded that we’ve not been able to identify yet. If you can’t find who you are looking for on the walls, come back to me. Then you may look at the photographs we’ve taken of the ones unidentified.” The witch raised one eyebrow at them. “Many of his followers have fled abroad.” 

Charlie and Bill thanked her and turned away from the reception area. They looked at each other. 

“The fallen first.” Charlie said before Bill could ask. They made their way to the wall on the right. To their relief the names were sorted alphabetically. There was no distinction whether the fallen had been a victim or a death eater. Charlie stared at the section of all the surnames beginning with B. Her name was not there. For the first time in weeks he felt something akin to hope blooming in his chest. 

“Charlie.” Bill said, his voice quiet.   
Charlie turned to his brother. He was looking at a different section of names. And when the realisation hit him, Charlie buckled to his knees. How could he have been so stupid? Of course he wouldn’t find her under B. Bill rushed up to him and pulled him into his arms. Charlie felt tears form in his eyes again. Holly Lee. Not Burr. 

“Shh, Charlie. It’s okay.” His brother said against his ear. “She’s not there. Her name is not on there.” 

Charlie staggered to his feet. He ignored the feeling of hope that was spreading out from his chest again and took a look at the names listed under L himself. And her name wasn’t there.   
He rushed over to the list of the wounded, looking under L straight away. No Holly. His mouth was suddenly very dry. Charlie didn’t wait for his brother but went straight back to the receptionist.

“I need to see the photographs.” His voice sounded hoarse. The receptionist opened her mouth but something in his eyes made her close it again. Instead she pointed to a door just behind her. Bill had caught up with him and together the entered the small room. 

“Take a seat please!” Another tired sounding voice prompted the two brothers. 

Charlie and Bill took a seat on the small leather couch and a stately looking wizard sat down across from them, an envelope in his hands. 

“Fallen or injured?” He said, not rudely just defeated. Charlie couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man. 

“Fallen first.” Bill grabbed Charlie’s hand. “Please.” He added. 

The wizard nodded and pulled out a small wad of photographs. He passed them to Bill who he had correctly identified as the more composed of the two. Bill looked through the pictures and Charlie just stared at a point between his feet. There was no way he’d be able to look at the faces of the dead. Not if there was the now very real possibility of seeing her face. 

“I…erm…I am not sure with this one.” Bill said, his voice shaky. 

Charlie’s heart sank. Please, Merlin, don’t let it be her. He took the photograph out of his brother’s hand. It was a dark haired witch, she almost looked like she was sleeping if it weren’t for her open eyes. Her hair fell down in waves. But it wasn’t her. Charlie was certain. So he shook his head.

Bill audibly let out the breath he’d been holding in. “Right. That was the last one. Can we see the wounded now please?”

The wizard handed Bill the second stack of pictures, it was much thicker than the one of the fallen. Bill looked through them and Charlie was watching his brother’s face. He’d be able to tell from his reaction. When Bill had gotten to the end of the stack he shook his head. Charlie took the photographs and looked through them as well. Holly was not among them. 

The two brothers left St. Mungo’s in silence. Maybe she’d made it abroad? But she’d have only gone to Italy and Flint would have told him. Where was Holly?

~||~

Charlie was sitting at breakfast with his family. It was now almost two months since the end of the war. George had made a joke this morning and for a moment they had all laughed before the reality of Fred not being here had set in again. Now they were all eating in silence. 

A scratching noise on the window made them all flinch. 

“It’s just the owl with this morning’s paper.” Their mum said, her shaky voice betraying her own nerves. 

She got up and after paying the owl, returned to the breakfast table. She sat down again and passed the paper to their dad. He opened the paper and they all read the headline. 

“So they’ve lined them all up?” Ginny said, her voice sounding angry. 

Charlie stretched his neck so he could read the paper better. For the past weeks aurors had been sweeping the country, trying to find all the death eaters that had managed to flee in the confusing aftermath of the battle. The daily prophet now had given a date when the trials would start. 

“Yeah, they’ve found quite a few more. Although most have been locked up in Azkaban already. I suppose they just want to start now. Even if not all have been found.” Their dad said and Charlie could see his eyes darting through the list of names printed under the headline. All of these wizards and witches were to be put on trial starting next week. He couldn’t believe how many there were. 

Ginny had stood up to read the article over their dad’s shoulder. Charlie could see her mouth moving as she was going through the list as well. Then she raised her hand to her mouth and looked straight at Charlie. And before she’d uttered a single word, Charlie knew. He knew that Holly’s name was among them. 

He stood up so abruptly that his chair was falling over behind him. Everyone looked up but Charlie ignored them and rushed out into the garden. His throat was closing up, he needed air. As soon as he got into the garden Charlie felt nauseous. He reached out for a tree and managed to hold on to it when his breakfast came back up. Charlie threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach. And even then he kept heaving. Cold sweat was on his forehead. 

“Charlie?” Bill’s voice made him look up. His older brother walked up to him and passed him a glass of water. Charlie drank it greedily to try and get rid of the acidic taste in his mouth. 

“What should I do now? Bill, they will lock her up!” Charlie’s voice was hoarse and talking hurt his throat. 

“We will get her. We will go to the trial and speak out for her. We’ll tell them how she was working for Dumbledore and the order. How she was a spy. They’ll acquit her.” Bill said, his voice sounding so sure. Charlie nodded. He hoped his brother was right. 

~||~

Charlie and Bill sat through the sentencing of four death eaters before Holly entered the room. Charlie’s heart broke when he saw her. Holly was wearing Azkaban robes, her hair was hanging down in dirty waves and she looked thinner than Charlie had ever seen her. She must have been in Azkaban all this time. It took everything he had to not just jump up and hug her. He felt his fingers digging painfully into the wooden bench he was sitting on. She was alive. That was all that mattered. Somehow she was alive and he would get her out of this. 

Holly was seated on the chair in the middle of the room, the wizengamot spread out in a half circle in front of her. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the newly appointed minister for magic, was leading the hearing. He and Bill had spoken to him in the morning and Kingsley had assured them that they would be able to speak on Holly’s behalf after the accusations made against her had been read out. 

Charlie had tried to catch Holly’s eyes when she had been lead into the room but Holly had been staring at the floor in front of her. Now she had her back to him. 

“Holly Lee, née Burr, you have been arrested on the first of May by the aurors McLaggen and Prixley at Gringotts. You were found in the company of three other death eaters, one of them being your husband Barnaby Lee. Can you explain what you were doing there?” Kingsley said, his voice strong but not unkindly. Charlie felt a glimmer of hope forming in his chest. Kingsley was giving her the chance to defend herself. 

“The dark lord had ordered us to him. He was furious about something. Something had been stolen out of Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault. We were to check it for her. To see whether a sword and a golden cup were still in it.” Holly said, her voice sounding weak and mechanical. There had been whispers when she’d said called Voldemort the dark lord. Charlie swore internally. 

“When the aurors got there you were unconscious. Did you try and fight the other death eaters?” Again, Kingsley tried to hand her a way out. 

Charlie held his breath. Please, Holly, just say yes. 

“No. Barnaby Lee attacked me.” Holly whispered, her voice barely audible. 

Kingsley sighed deeply. Some wizards in the wizengamot were whispering. “Mrs Lee, your husband was on trial yesterday. He told us that you put him under the imperius curse as well as a forbidden mind altering spell for the majority of a year. Is that true?”

Holly nodded and Charlie felt any glimmer of hope for her acquittal flitter out. What was she doing? Why was she not defending herself?

“Very well.” Kingsley sounded defeated. He briefly looked at Charlie and it was almost as if he was sending a silent apology for what was going to come next. “As well as the use of the imperius curse and the forbidden mind alternating spell you are being accused of the following…” 

Bill grabbed Charlie’s hand as they listened to the accusations. Charlie felt himself turn to stone. 

Aiding the attempted murder of the muggle prime minister, torturing ministry officials including the use of a number of spells that are especially vicious as well as the cruciatus curse, kidnapping several ministry officials and/or members of their families…

Kingsley’s voice droned on and on and Charlie felt numb. And then it came. What he had feared most. 

“…as well as the torturing and killing of at least five muggles. Before I ask Mrs Lee, is there anyone who would like to add to these accusations or wants to speak up in defence of the accused?”

Charlie almost didn’t feel Bill taking his hand and pressing it. He looked at his brother. What was he supposed to say in her defence? What could he possible say? He’d always known that there were certain things that Holly had kept a secret from him. That there were things she had to do in order to make it look as if she were one of them. But killing? Did she really not have a choice? Charlie swallowed. He should say something at least, Kingsley was now also looking at him.

“Don’t let them remain nameless victims, Shacklebolt!” An angry voice came from somewhere off to his right. Everyone turned towards an elderly witch. “We know the names of the muggles. We know the names of the ministry officials she’s tortured!” The witch suddenly pointed at Charlie and his brother. “See! His brothers are here. Don’t keep it a secret that she used the cruciatus curse on Percy Weasley!” 

Charlie thought he couldn’t breathe. Bill’s face turned to stone. She had tortured Percy. Their brother Percy. Holly, who said that she would never do anything to hurt his family, had tortured his brother. Charlie looked at Holly and she stared back up at him. There was so much pain in her eyes. They were still looking at each other when Kingsley read through the names of the muggles and ministry workers that she had tortured and killed. Percy’s name came up again. 

“Mrs Lee.” Kingsley said, his voice now exhausted. “What do you plead?” 

Holly shut her eyes and turned back towards the minister of magic. “Guilty.” Her voice barely more than a whisper. 

Charlie did not feel anything. He did not feel anything when Kingsley sentenced her to life in Azkaban. He did not feel anything when Bill lead him out of the courtroom. He still did not feel anything when he was back at the burrow, everyone walking on eggshells around him. 

Charlie returned to Romania the following day. He dropped his things off at his small house and then apparated to the dragon sanctuary. Only when he stood on a small hill, looking out at the dragons soaring in the sky around him, only then Charlie started to feel. He fell to his knees, the pain washing in waves over him. Charlie didn’t even have any tears left in him, dry sobs was all that he managed. 

Charlie did not know how long he had been on the top of the hill. But now some of the tamer dragons had gathered around him. One of them, a Welsh green, gently stubbed his shoulder with its snout. Charlie looked up at the small dragon. He looked at all the dragons around him who had felt his pain. And he knew that he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain in his heart by himself. After all, he had dragons. 

Epilogue

Charlie was looking through the kitchen window. His nieces and nephews were playing with some infant Welsh green dragons. Fleur and Angelina were watching them worriedly but Bill and George were still enjoying the Rumanian beer Charlie had served them with their meal. 

“I can’t believe Victoire is already in her second year at Hogwarts.” Charlie said and joined his two brothers at the table. “She’s only just started walking.”

“Another reason you should come back home.” Bill said. He and George (and their respective families) had arrived this morning for a spontaneous visit before their children had to start school again at the end of the summer. 

“The shop is huge now. You could always work there. I’d love to fire Ron.” George chimed in with a smile on his face. 

Charlie returned his smile but didn’t say anything. For the past 15 years his family had tried to convince him to move back to England. Charlie had remained stubborn. He hadn’t set foot in the country since the Hogwarts trials and he never would. It had taken him way too long to seal the pain away and he was not going to rip it open again by going to a place where everything reminded him of her. Charlie shook his head to stop that train of thought and took another sip of his beer. George and Bill shared a long look but Charlie ignored it. 

“Well, think about it. Right, George, we better round them up. The portkey is going to activate in fifteen minutes.” Bill emptied his bottle and stood up. George followed suit. 

His brothers called for their children and were promptly ignored. The dragons were too exciting, even for Victoire, who usually felt too grown up to play with her younger siblings and cousins. But after a sharp word from Fleur and Angelina they gave the dragons a last cuddle and then joined their parents in Charlie’s living room. Charlie hugged his nieces, shook his nephews’ hands and received plenty of kisses on the cheek from Fleur and Angelina. George almost crushed him with his hug and Bill also gave him a big hug and randomly whispered “Read the paper.” into his ear. Charlie frowned but before he could comment on his brother’s strange words, Fleur had pulled out a tattered looking teddy bear from her handbag. Charlie walked outside with them and watched them gather around the pretty French woman. Bill gave him one last grin and then they were gone. 

Charlie watched the sky for a long while after they’d disappeared. He only ever felt lonely after a visit from his family or friends. There was a squeak and then the infant dragons galloped out of his garden and took flight, clearly wondering where their playmates had disappeared to. Charlie chuckled softly. He had dragons. 

He went back into his house and cleared the table. Charlie swung his wand and the dishes began to wash themselves in the sink. He grabbed the empty beer bottles and put them in a box by the door. He’d take them out later. When he returned to the table his gaze fell on a copy of the daily prophet. Read the paper. 

Charlie picked it up, the copy was from last week. There was a picture of Kingsley Shacklebolt on the front page, as well as the rebuild Hogwarts castle. The picture was surrounded by the names of the fallen. Charlie spotted his brother Fred’s name as well as those of Remus and Tonks. It still hurt. Charlie smiled a sad smile. 

The article was about a memorial service that had been held at the castle as it had been the battle’s fifteenth anniversary. Charlie read it quickly, not wanting to think about her. Why had Bill been so keen for him to read the paper? Why had he left it there for him? 

He skimmed the rest of the paper and stopped cold when he got to the politics section. It was an interview with Hermione Granger, his sister-in-law, who was talking about the rehabilitation of prisoners, a muggle concept, which involved looking at the convicts’ crimes and their behaviour whilst incarcerated. And deciding who would be suited for reintroduction into society. Hermione said that they had released a number of prisoners in the past year under this new scheme. They had been put under house arrest and had to agree to meet up with their assigned auror weekly, to start off with, to discuss their progress. She didn’t name any of the released prisoners. She didn’t have to. Charlie’s mouth suddenly went dry. Why else would he have told him to read the paper? He went to the sink and filled a glass with water that he drank eagerly. His heart was beating at twice its speed. Charlie put down the glass, opened a cupboard and got out a bottle of firewhiskey. He filled the glass half-full and emptied it in one long gulp. Charlie didn’t dare close his eyes. Because he’d see her. He thought back on the day Bill and him were watching her trial. He listed her crimes in his head. They still disgusted him. But the feeling of disgust was nothing compared to the other feelings that were starting to spread out in his body. Longing. Need. Love. 

~||~

Charlie stood in front of the massive wooden doors. It was a hot summer day and he could feel a trickle of sweat forming on the nape of his neck. He took a deep breath in and knocked. 

“Took you long enough.” Marcus Flint grumbled. He opened the door further and waved Charlie in. 

“I only found out yesterday.” Charlie said, his voice much shakier than he thought it’d be. He suddenly felt very nervous. 

Marcus Flint regarded him for a moment. There was the sound of a child laughing and then a toddler came running down the stairs. A pretty blonde-haired woman was running after the little boy. “Marcus, your son is the worst.” She said, her voice full of mirth. “Can you get him dressed, please? We need to get to my mum’s.” Then her eyes fell on Charlie. “Oh. Hello. You must be Charlie.” 

Charlie nodded hello. Marcus was looking at his son and the woman, who was probably his wife. Charlie had never thought he’d see the Slytherin with such an expression of love on his face. Times really had changed. 

“I’ll get him dressed.” He turned to Charlie again. “She’s in the garden.” 

Marcus grabbed the toddler who was squealing in delight and the three of them walked up the stairs. Charlie watched them until they’d disappeared and then walked down the hallway, opening doors as he went along to see which one would lead him to the garden. 

Eventually he entered a south-facing living room and there was an open glass door. Charlie walked through it and found himself in the garden. Or grounds rather. The grass was green despite the pressing heat and he could hear a brook somewhere in the distance. But the beauty of the garden paled in comparison to the person who was sitting on a bench under a big willow tree. Charlie’s heart was beating so fast he thought it’d burst through his chest any moment now. He walked up to her, but stopped short a few feet in front of her. She was reading a book, her hair was in a loose braid. It was still dark, almost black, but with a few strands of silver running through it. She didn’t look as thin as when he had last seen her. And then she looked up. Her eyes were still a lovely pale blue. Her mouth was still full and red. Obviously she looked older but she was still beautiful. She was still the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. 

“Holly.” He whispered, his whole body overwhelmed with the love he was feeling for the woman in front of him. 

Holly put the book down and slowly stood up. A single tear ran down her cheek. “Charlie.” She said and it was all that he had ever wanted to hear. His name coming out of her mouth again. He rushed up to her and wrapped her in his arms. He held her as tightly as he could and then he kissed her. It was wet, both of them were crying now. Charlie held her, his Holly, and he’d never let go of her again.


End file.
